Class 

Book. > A/3 



COPYRIGHT DI 



J 



THE 



HISTORY OF MAINE, 

FROM THE 

EAELIEST DISCOVERY OF THE REGION BY THE NORTHMEN 
UNTIL THE PRESENT TIME; 

INCLUDING 

NARRATIVE OF THE VOYAGES AND EXPLORATIONS OF THE EARLY 
ADVENTURERS, THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE INDIAN 
TRIBES, THE HARDSHIPS OF THE FIRST SETTLERS, THE 
CONFLICTS WITH THE SAVAGES, AND THE GRADUAL 
ADVANCEMENT OF THE STATE TO ITS PRESENT 
ASPECT OF OPULENCE, CULTURE, AND 
REFINEMENT. 



JOHN S. C. ABBOTT, 



Author op 'History op the Civil War in America," "French Revolution, 
"The Lives op the Presidents of the United States," 

ETC., ETC. 



ILLUSTRATED. 



/33G 



BOSTON : 

PUBLISHED BY B. B. RUSSELL, 55 CORNHILL. 

PORTLAND: JOELN RUSSELL. 
1875. 



F79 
■A It 



COPYRIGHT : 

B. B. Russell, 
1875. 



Boston: 

Electrotyped and Printed by 
Rand, Avery, & Co. 



PREFACE. 



Maine is the native State of the writer of this volume. 
Seventy years ago, in the year 1805, he was born in Brunswick, 
within sound of the roar of the Falls of the Androscoggin. 

His childhood was spent in Hallowell, then a small but 
thriving hamlet upon the banks of the Kennebec. In the 
halls of Bowdoin he received his collegiate education. 

In his maturer years he ever repaired, for recreation, to the 
parental home, then at Farmington in the beautiful and luxu- 
riant valley of the Sandy River. 

In Maine he found the cradle of his infancy. There are the 
graves of his fathers. Upon its soil he has spent the happiest 
years of his life. To give a biographical sketch of his native 
State, of its birth, growth and maturity, has been with him a 
labor of love. 

It is not the object of this history to search out discoveries 
which have hitherto eluded the scrutiny of antiquarians, or to 
settle disputed questions which have arisen in reference to 
minute details in early days. 

He wishes to give a faithful and graphic record of the 
wondrous past, — such a record as will be read with interest at 
every fireside. It is indeed an exciting story he has to tell, — 
of perilous adventures by sea and land, of struggles against the 
hardships of the wilderness, of terrible conflicts with a savage 
j foe. 

1 3 
I 1 



4 



PREFACE. 



In the rich libraries of Portland, Boston, and New Haven, 
the writer has found ample material for his work. He has 
endeavored to give the reader his authority for every important 
statement he has made. Where there is irreconcilable dis- 
crepancy in the annals of the past, he has endeavored faith- 
fully to give each side. 

The history commences with the landing of the Northmen 
upon our shores about a thousand years ago, and closes with 
the present grandeur of the State, when our prosperous Repub- 
lic is about to celebrate the centennial anniversary of its ex- 
istence as an independent nation. 

The writer has only to say, in conclusion, that he feels that 
this is one of the last labors of his long life. He has spared no 
pains to make this history as accurate as possible ; and he now 
commends it to the kindly consideration of the sons and daugh- 
ters of Maine. 

John S. C. Abbott. 

Fair Haven, Conn. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER L 

VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN AND OTHER EARLY EXPLORERS. 

PAGE. 

Country of the Northmen — Voyages to Iceland and Greenland — Voyage of 
Thorwald — His Death— Expedition of Thornnn and Gudrida — Visit to 
Buzzard's Bay and Narraganset Baj" — First Description of New England — 
A Mystery of History — Voyage of John Cabot — Voyage of his Son Sebas- 
tian Cabot — French and English Claims — Gaspar Cortereal — Verrazano — 
Interview with the Indians — Este van Gomez — Norunibega — John But . 13 

CHAPTER n. 

VOYAGES OF THEVET, PRING, DE MONTS, AND WEYMOUTH. 

Journal of Thevet — Pring's Voyage — His Description of Penobscot Bay — 
De Monts' Patent — His Strange Adventures — Takes Possession in the 
Name of the King of France— Alarm in England — Weymouth's Expedi- 
tion — Anchors at Mohegan and Pemaquid — Friendly Intercourse with the 
Natives — Infamotis Conduct of Weymouth — Kidnapping the Natives — 
Exploration of the Kennebec — Planting the Cross — Homeward Voyage . 29 

CHAPTER HI. 

THE EXPEDITION OF GOVERNOR GEORGE POPHAM. 

Fate of Weymouth's Captives — Formation of the Plymouth Company — 
Disastrous Expeditions — Organization of Popham's Colony — First Sight 
of Land — Visit of the Indians — The Landing at Pemaquid — Suspicions of 
the Natives — First Religious Service in Maine — Unavailing Explorations — 
Ascending the Sagadahock — The Colony located — Search for the Penob- 
scot — Casco Bay — The Androscoggin — Adventures with the Indians . 45 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE FAILURE OF POPHAM'S COLONY, AND ITS ATTENDANT RESULTS. 

Indian Etiquette — Virtues of the Indians — Scenes in the Colony — Popham's 
Death — Ruin in the Colony — Atrocious Cruelty — Revenge of the In- 
dians — The Explosion — Fears of the Indians — The Colony Abandoned — 
Private Adventures — Infamy of Poutrincourt — The Scenery of Mount 
Desert — Monhegan in its Glory — Harlow the Kidnapper — Valor of the 
Indians — Fate of the French Colonies — Adventures of Epenow — His 

Escape — The Battle on Martha's Vineyard 63 

5 



6 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER V. 

EXPLORATIONS AND SETTLEMENTS. 

PAGE. 

John Smith's Career — Exploring the Coast — England and France at War — 
The War of the Natives, and the Plague — Zeal of Gorges — Vines's Expedi- 
tion — Conflicting Claims — Damariscotta and its Surroundings — Levett's 
Expedition — Views of Matrimony — Saco — General Lawlessness — Laco- 
nia Company — Various Trading Posts — Pemaquid — Tact of the French — 
Bagaduce — Scene in the Kennehec — Testimony of Gov. Bradford . . 81 

CHAPTER VI. 

PROGRESS OF SETTLEMENTS. 

Capture at Machias — The Career of Bagnall — The Two Retaliations —Men- 
acing Aspect of Affairs — The Twelve Provinces — Ferdinando Gorges 
Governor of all New England — Expedition of D'Aulney — Energy of 
Miles Standish — The Administration of William Gorges — Agamenticus — 
Population of Maine — The New Grant to Gorges — The Province of 
Maine — Thomas Gorges — The Constitution — Religious and Political Prin- 
ciples — Woman's Rights 97 

CHAPTER VII. 

COLONIAL JEALOUSIES AND ALIENATIONS. 

Conflict between La Tour and D'Aulney — Its Strange Result — Attack of 
Waunerton — Madame La Tour — D' Aulney attacks the Fort at St. John — 
Heroic Defence of Madame La Tour — Her Capture and Deatli — Treason of 
La Tour — Gov. Godfrey — Purchases of Indian Chiefs — Boundary Dis- 
putes — Final Settlement — Submission of Godfrey — Ecclesiastical Condi- 
tion — Sullivan's Testimony — Dutch Settlers — Savage Insolence . . .114 

CHAPTER VIH. 

THE PROVINCE OF MAINE ANNEXED TO MASSACHUSETTS. 

Troubles on the Piscataqua — Career of La Tour — Menaces of War — Meas- 
ures of Cromwell — Conquest of Nova Scotia — Character of La Tour — 
Trading Post on the Kennebec — The Oath Administered — Sale of the Right 
of Traffic — Boundaries of Kennebec Patent — Political Connection between 
Maine and Massachusetts — Code of Laws — Northern Limits of Massachu- 
setts — The Articles of Union — Rev. John Wheelwright — Correspondence 
— Restoration of Charles H. — Petition of Gorges — Duke of York's Charter . 131 

CHAPTER IX. 

POLITICAL AGITATIONS. 

The Duke of York — The Royal Commissioners — Conflict between the Com- 
missioners and the General Court — Then Unfriendly Report — Tyranny of 
Charles II. — Character of George Cleaves — The Petition — Efforts of the 
Commissioners — Treaty with the Indians — War between France and Eng- 
land — National Antipathies — Baron Castine — His Character and Career — 
French Influence over the Indians — Anarchy — Ambition of the Duke of 
York — War between England and Holland — Jocelyn's Description . . 149 



CONTENTS. 



7 



CHAPTER X 

THE FIRST INDIAN WAR. 

PAGE. 

The Indians — Their Manners and Customs — Fondness for Intoxicating 
Drinks — Scenes in the Wigwani — The Catholic Missionaries — Adventures 
of Rasle — Indian Intelligence — Population — Philip's War — Commence- 
ment of Hostilities — Awful Scenes of Blood and Woe — The Truce — 
Efforts of Mr. Shurte — The War Renewed — The Ambuscades — Folly of 
the English — Desperation of the Indians 168 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE HORRORS OF WAR. 

Dispersion of King Philip's Forces — Falmouth Desolated — Scenes of Hor- 
ror — Arrowsick Plundered — Treachery of Major Waldron — Munjoy's 
Island captured by the Savages — The Indians ask for Peace — Anecdote 
of Mugg — The English resume the War — Increased Ferocity of the In- 
dians — The Mohawks Allies of the English — The Ambuscade at Black 
Point — Its Fatal Results 186 



CHAPTER XH. 

WARS AND WOES CONTINUED. 

Ravages of the Indians — The Naval Expedition — Peace proclaimed — Losses 
by the War — The Purchase of Maine by Massachusetts — The Regime of 
Mr. Danforth — North Yarmouth incorporated — Baptist Church estab- 
lished—Menaces of War — Employment of the Mohawks — Sir Edmund 
Andros — Thomas Dungan — Tja-annical Acts — Attack upon Baron Cas- 
tine — War Renewed — Fate of Waldron — Expeditions to Quebec and 
Montreal ,.206 

CHAPTER XIII. 

CAMPAIGNS IN THE WILDERNESS. 

Character of Indian Warf are — Expedition of Captain Church — Battle at 
Falmouth — The Sack of Berwick — The Massacre at Falmouth — Church 
at Pejepscot — Incidents of the Campaign — Indian Gratitude — The 
Truce — Deplorable Condition of Maine — The Disaster at York — Heroic 
Defence of Wells — Church's Third Expedition — New Efforts for Peace . 224 



CHAPTER XIV. 

king William's war. — queen anne's war. 

Efforts of the French to reduce Fort William Henry — Cruelty of Capt. 
Chubb — His Fate — Camden Heights — Plunder on the Bay of Fundy — 
Major Frost — Fearful Tragedies — Consultations for Peace — Assacom- 
buit — Impoverishment of the Province — Cruel Rumors and New Solici- 
txides — An Intolerant Act — Gov. Dudley — Speech of Simmo — King 
William's War — Policy of M. Rivieres — Shameful Conduct of English- 
men — Third Indian War — Siege of Winter Harbor — Arrival of Capt. 
Southack 245 



8 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE RIVAL CLAIMS OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 

PAGB. 

Jocelyn's Visit — The Destruction of Black Point — The Vicissitudes of 
"War — A Naval Expedition — Merciless Ravages — Destruction at Port 
Royal — The Expedition to Norridgewock — Exchange of Prisoners — Trea- 
son suspected — Incidents of the Conflict — A Renewed Attack upon Port 
Royal — Rage of Gov. Dudley — The Third Attack and its Failure — Naval 
Battle at Winter Harbor — The Conquest of Nova Scotia — The Commis- 
sion to Quebec — Exchange of Menaces 265 



CHAPTER XVI. 

BRITISH AND INDIAN DIPLOMACY. 

Enthusiasm of the British Government — The Fleet for the Conquest of 
Canada — Utter Failure of the Enterprise — Daily Perils — The Bridal 
Party — Treaty of Utrecht — The Ravages of War — Character of the 
Younger Castine — State of the Ministry — The Pejepscot Purchase — An- 
cient Dominions — Rearing the Forts — The Council at Arrow sic — Gloomy 
Prospects — Character of Father Rasle 282 



CHAPTER XVH. 

THE VICISSITUDES OF WAR. 

The War Renewed — Resolve of the British— Westbrook's Attempt on an 
Indian Village — An Indian Fort — Expedition to Oldtown — Attempt 
upon Norridgewock — Beauty of the Village — Savage Depredations — 
Father Rasle and his Chapel — His Letters — Murder of Bomaseen — 
Slaughter at Norridgewock — Death of Rasle — Tribute to His Memory — 
Capt. Love well's Achievement — Drake's Narrative 300 



CHAPTER xvrn. 

THE PROGRESS AND TERMINATION OF LOVEWELL'S WAR. 

Encampment at Great Ossipee — Serious Contest — Death of Lovewell — Of 
Fiye — Fate of the English in Lovewell' s War — Government Measures — 
Native Honor — Indian Distresses — Incorporation of Orono — Heath's Expe- 
dition — Attack upon Young Castine — The Dummer Treaty — Indian Let- 
ters — Cost of Indian Wars — Peace concluded 319 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE DOOM OF THE INDIAN. 

French Influence — Gov. Dummer — His Wise Policy — The Trading-Hoxises — 
Life at Falmouth — Govs. Burnet and Belcher — Act against Duelling — 
Encroachments of the English — Conference at Falmouth — Gov. Shirley — 
Visit of Whitefield — Council at St. George — The Indians desire Peace — In- 
dians refuse to right their Brethren — The Capture of Louisburg — War 
Proclaimed against the Indians — Peace — Subsiding Billows — New Claims 
of the English — Fort at Teconnet 337 



CONTENTS. 



9 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE OLD FRENCH "WAR, AND THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION COMMENCED. 

PAGE. 

The Upper Kennebec Explored — New Forts Built — War with the Indians 
Renewed — English Atrocities — War between France and England — 
Feebleness of the Indians — Incorporation of Towns — Efforts of England 
to .enslave America — The Stamp Act — The Tea Tax — Battle of Lexing- 
ton—Patriotism of the People of Maine — Scenes in Falmouth — Visit of 
the British Sloop-of- War — Capture of Capt. Mo watt — His Threats . . 354 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION : FALMOUTH IN ASHES. 

The British Fleet— The Doom Announced — The Conference — The Bom- 
bardment—The Expedition to Quebec — The Repulse — Frendliness of the 
Indians — New Towns Incorporated — The British Repulsed at Machias — 
Anecdote of John Adams — Arrival of the French Fleet — The Foe estab- 
lished at Biguyduce — Terrible Naval Disaster to the Americans — Barbar- 
ism of the English — Capture of Gen. Wadsworth — His Brave Defence — 
His Escape 377 



CHAPTER XXH. 

THE WAR OF 1812, AND THE SEPARATION. 

Expenses of the War — The Question of Separation — Increase of Towns — 
Counties Formed — Bo wdoin College Chartered — The Farmington Schools — 
Le wiston — Augusta and its Institutions — Waterville — Gardiner — The 
War of 1812 — Causes of the War — Incidents of the Conflict — Increase of 
Population and Towns — The Penobscot Valley Ravaged — General Alarm — 
Scenes in Castine — Peace — The "Ohio Fever" — The Separation — Maine 
an Independent State 397 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

PEACE AND PROSPERITY. 

William EIng — William D. Williamson — The Maine of Half a Century 
Ago — A Journey to Boston — Succeeding Governors — The Aroostook 
War — Origin of the Difficulty — Warlike Measure — Interesting Incidents — 
The Truce — Final Settlement 426 



CHAPTER XXTV. 

THE SCANDINAVIAN IMMIGRATION. 

Origin of the Movement — The Plan Adopted — Mission of Mr. Thomas to 
Sweden — Wise Measures triumphantly Successful — The Voyage of the 
Immigrants — Their Hospitable Reception — New Sweden — The Primeval 
Forest — Labors of the Colonists — Their Industry and Prosperity — Increas- 
ing Immigration — Interesting Letter from Sweden — Present State of the 
Colony — Future Prospects 436 



10 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE PICTURESQUE ATTRACTIONS OF MAINE. 

PAOB. 

Portland and Casco Bay — Seashore Resorts — Isles of Shoals — The Beaches 
— Cape Arundel and Old Orchard — Bath to Rockland, and up the Penob- 
scot — Mount Desert — Lake Sebago — Mt. Pleasant and the Saco — The 
Valley of the Androscoggin — Rangeley Lakes and Sandy River — The 
Kennehec Valley — Moosehead Lake and the Aroostook 446 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

MAINE EST THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. 

Military Condition of Maine — Proclamation of the President— Prompt 
Action — The Greeting in New York — Welcome in Washington — Stove- 
pipe Artillery — Testimony of Gen. Sickles — Gen. Hiram G. Berry — The 
Liquor Shops — The Seventh Maine Complimented — Sufferings of Camp- 
Life — Colored Regiments — Testimony of Gen. Naglee — Gen. Dow — Toils 
of a Campaign — The Sharp-shooters — Lieut. Hill — Batteries of Light 
Artillery — Courage of New Recruits 468 



CHAPTER XXVH. 

MAINE IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION, CONTINUED. 

Battle of Cedar Mountain — Bivouacking in the Rain — Testimony of Gen. 
Burnside — Scenes at Port Hudson — Arlington Heights —Campaigning in 
the South — Patriotism of the Twenty-Seventh Regiment — Toilsome 
March — Battle at Marianna — Ravages of Sickness — Summary of the Ef- 
forts of Maine — Major-Gen. O. O. Howard at Gettysburg — Major-Gen. 
Joshua L. Chamberlain at the Surrender of Lee 483 



CHAPTER XXVm. 

AGRICULTURE ANT) MANUFACTURES. 

Maine, its Location and Size — Mountains — Katahdin — Temperature — Agri- 
cultural Products — Various Industries — Ship-Building — Railroads — Slate 
Quarries — Little Blue Quarry — Water-Power — Annual Rain -Fall — Manu- 
facturing Facilities — The Saco Basin — The Androscoggin — The Kenne- 
bec— The Penobscot Valley — The St. Croix — The St. John — The Salubri- 
ous Climate — Prospects of Emigration 499 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

POPULAR EDUCATION. 

Normal School in Farmington — Normal School in Castine —Maine Central 
Institute — Oak Grove Seminary — Commercial College — State College of 
Agriculture — Winthrop Grammar School — Kittery District School —Intel- 
lectual, Social, and Physical Advantages of Maine 518 



ILLUSTRATION'S. 



PAGE. 

Portrait of Author Frontispiece. 

Old Stone Tower, Newport 20 

Pejepscot Falls, Brunswick 229 

Garrison House at York 234 

Monumemt of Basle, Norridgewock 316 

Sergeant Larrabee's Garrison, Kennebunk 318> 

Oldtown Falls 328 

Ticonic Falls, Waterville 362: 

Battle of Lexington 371 

Last Blockhouse of Fort Halifax 376 : 

Lower Falls, East Machias 385 

View of Portland 396 

Maine Wesleyan Seminary 399' 

Bowdoin College, Brunswick 402 

Western Normal School, Farmington 404 

Scenery at Abbott Family School, Farmington .... 405' 
Mansion, Abbott Family School, Farmington . 406 
Family School for Girls, at "The Willows," Farmington . 408 

Lewiston Falls 410 

Kennebec Dam, Augusta 413 

Cobbossee Contee Falls, Gardiner . . . . . . . . 416 

State House, Augusta 428 

Insane Hospital, Augusta 430 

Portland Observatory 447 

City Hall, Portland 448 

Custom House, Portland 449' 

Post Office, Portland 450' 

The Cliffs, Cape Arundel 451 

Boston and Maine Railroad Bridge, Saco 452 

Old Orchard Beach 454" 

. Whitehead Cliffs . . 455' 

Lake Sebago 459 ■ 

Bonny Eagle Falls, Buxton 460 

11 



12 



ILL USTRATIONS. 



PAGE. 

Lisbon Falls 461 

Upper Falls, Rumford 463 

Lower Falls, Rumford 464 

Livermore Falls 465 

Cascade at West Waterville 466 

The National Home for Disabled Soldiers 496 

Cumberland Mill Falls 509 

North Channel Dam 511 

Madison Bridge Falls 512 

Carratunk Falls 513 

Upper Dam, Ellsworth 514 

Westbrook Seminary 522 

Residences of Col. Ebenezer Webster and Others . . . 524 

District Schoolhouse 525 

State Agricultural College 526 

Grammar Schoolhouse 527 

Maine General Hospital 529 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



CHAPTER I. 

VOYAGES OF THE NORTHMEN 1 AND OTHER EARLY EXPLORERS. 

Country of the Northmen — Yoyages to Iceland and Greenland — Voyage of 
Thorwald — His Death — Expedition of Thorfinn and Gudrida — Visit to 
Buzzard's Bay and Narraganset Bay — First Description of New England — 
A Mystery of History — Voyage of John Cabot — Voyage of his Son, Sebas- 
tian Cabot — French and English Claims — Gaspar Cortereal — Verrazano — 
Strange Interview with the Indians — Estevan Gomez — Norumbega — John 
Rut. 

EVENTS contemplated through the lapse of a thousand 
years must be dim. In ancient times the region of north- 
ern Europe, which now comprehends Denmark, Sweden, and 
Norway, was called Scandinavia. The hardy people who dwelt 
in that frigid clime were called Northmen. They were a sea- 
faring people, regarded mainly as pirates. Shores far distant 
were ravaged by their plundering expeditions. 

It is said, that, ten centuries ago, one of these Northmen, Nad- 
dod, who was called the sea-king, driven by storms, discovered 
Iceland. It was, ere long, settled by a colony from Denmark. 
It is said, that, about seventeen years after the discovery of Ice- 
land, a storm drove another vessel from that island across to 
Greenland, a distance of but about four hundred miles. This 
was in the extreme north-eastern portion of the North Ameri- 

1 For the following account of the voyages of the Northmen, I am mainly 
indebted to the celebrated work entitled, " Antiquitates Americans, Hafnie. 
Copenhagen, 1839. By C. C. Rafn." So far as it is possible to obtain any accu- 
racy upon this subject, the authority of Mr. Rafn is unquestionable. 

13 



14 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



can Continent. Thus, according to this report, the Northmen 
discovered America more than six hundred years before Colum- 
bus approached our shores. 

About ten years after this, another Northman, by the name 
of Biarne, seeking Greenland, was driven by fierce gales far to 
the south. It is surmised, from his vague descriptions, that be 
must have caught sight of Cape Cod, and that he thence 
coasted north-easterly, back along the shores of Maine and Nova 
Scotia, to Greenland. 

As the story goes, four years after this, in the year 1000, 
a man by the name of Leif took another vessel, and set 
out on an exploring expedition. He touched at dreaiy, deso- 
late Newfoundland ; leaving the coast of Maine unseen far away 
on his right, he directed his course south-west, till he reached 
the head of Cape Cod. Sailing around the Cape, and turning 
to the west, he entered a large bay, which it is supposed was 
Narraganset, and landed, probably not far from the present 
site of Newport in Rhode Island. 

They found the climate so mild, the region so delightful, the 
fruit so abundant, that they decided to spend the winter there. 
As rich grapes abounded, they named the country Vineland. 
In the shortest day of winter they recorded that the sun rose at 
half past seven, and set at half past four. This would quite 
decisively indicate that they were in the region of southern New 
England. 

In the year 1002 a brother of Leif, by the name of Thor- 
wald, set out on another exploring tour to these newly dis- 
covered and attractive realms. Following his brother's track, 
he reached the same bay in which Leif had wintered, and 
occupied the same cabins which he had reared. In the spring 
he sent out the long boat with a party of sailors, to examine 
the coast west and south. We know nothing of the results of 
this expedition. 

It is inferred, from the accounts which are still quite vague, 
that Thorwald spent another winter in Narraganset Bay, and 
that he named the spot Leifsbuder, or Leifshouse. In the spring 
he set sail in his ship, to follow the coast back to Greenland. 
Sailing around Cape Cod, which he named Naeset, he turned 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



15 



the bows of his ship due west, towards the main land, and came 
to anchor not improbably in what is now Boston Harbor. He 
was so delighted with the aspect of the wooded hill, and the 
green vales, and the charming expanse of the bay studded with 
islands, that he exclaimed, " Here it is beautiful ; here I should 
like to spend my days ! " 

While at anchor here, they discovered three small canoes, each 
containing three natives. These barbarian Northmen, with 
cruelty which would have disgraced savages, pursued the 
harmless natives and killed eight of them. One only escaped. 
The fiend-like deed roused the tribe. Soon a fleet of canoes, 
filled with Indian warriors, seemed to cover the bay. But their 
puny arrows could make no impression upon the oak-ribbed 
ship of their foes. The Northmen, sheltered by planks, could 
bid defiance to the assaults of these justly exasperated natives. 
The assailants, seeing the futility of their efforts, retired. 

They knew not that one barbed arrow, God-directed, had 
entered the vitals of Thorwald, piercing him just beneath the 
arm. He was the only one injured. As the deeply imbedded 
arrow adhered to the wound, and the blood gushed forth, he 
had only time to say, — 

" This is my death-blow. I advise you to depart as soon as possible ; 
but first take my body to the shore, and bury it upon the promontory 
before you. There I had intended to make my abode : I shall now dwell 
there forever. Place two crosses at my grave, — one at the head and one 
at the foot ; and let the spot, in all future time, be called Krossanaes." 1 

This event took place, as is supposed, near Boston Harbor. 
It was the first conflict between the native Americans and the 
Europeans. In this encounter the Europeans were palpably 
and outrageously in the wrong. Thorwald's men returned to 
Narraganset Bay, where they spent the winter. We have no 
account of their having any intercourse with the Indians. They 
probably set traps for beaver and other animals. It is stated 
that in the spring they set sail for Greenland with a cargo of 
wood and furs. 

It would seem, from this account, that Thorwald and his men 

1 The Promontory of the Crosses. 



16 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



were upon the Rhode Island shore for two years. They made 
sundry explorations, both east and west. The remarkable head- 
land, now called Cape Cod, they minutely described. They 
gave it the name of Naeset, or the Nose. It is worthy of notice, 
that when our Puritan fathers landed at the head of the Cape, 
after the lapse of eight hundred }^ears, the Indians called it 
Nauset, there being the change of but a single letter in the 
name. 

Erik had a third son, Thorstein. With fraternal affection, the 
young man decided to fit out an expedition to Vineland, as the 
country was then called, that he might obtain the remains of 
his brother, and bury them by the graves of his fathers. He 
fitted out the same ship in which Thorwald had sailed, and took 
with him a crew of twenty-five picked men. His wife, Gudrida, 
who is represented as a woman of remarkable prudence and 
energy, accompanied him. 

The ship encountered a series of terrible storms, and was 
driven far away to sea, they scarcely knew where. Turning 
homewards, they did not reach the ice-bound shores of Green- 
land until early in December, 1005. They landed at one of 
these cheerless settlements, greatly exhausted by the tempests 
against which they so long had struggled. Here Thorstein was 
taken sick and died, with many others of his crew. It is prob- 
able that the ship was frozen in, for she did not leave her 
dreary anchorage until the spring. The heart-stricken widow 
then returned to her friends. 

A year passed away, and Gudrida was married again to a gen- 
tleman of Iceland, by the name of Thorfinn. He was a wealthy 
man, of illustrious birth, and distinguished for his \irtues and 
his energy. Our own New England, the Vineland of the Ice- 
landers, was to them, in comparison with their icy abode, the 
land of fruits and flowers, of genial clime and sunny skies. 
Thorfinn, influenced, it is said, by the glowing description he 
had received from the lips of his wife, of these favored realms, 
fitted out another exploring expedition. It was probably his 
intention to establish a colony, for he took three ships and one 
hundred and sixty men. 

The expedition set out from one of the southern ports in 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



17 



Greenland, in the summer of 1008. They sailed along the 
coast of Nova Scotia, then called Markland ; and then, keeping 
the land, of what is now called Maine, ever in sight, cruised 
along the shore until they reached Cape Cod. It does not 
appear that they landed at any point. 

They sailed around Cape Cod, being much impressed with its 
long and sandy beaches. Passing the group of the Elizabeth 
Islands, with which they were much charmed, and where they 
saw water-fowl in such wonderful abundance that they could 
scarcely step upon the shore without treading upon their eggs, 
they cast anchor in Buzzard's Bay. 

From this point a small party was sent out on an exploring 
tour to the north. The ships, with the remainder of the* men, 
sailed westward, and again entered the beautiful sheet of water 
which their countrymen had previously visited, the Narraganset 
Bay. It may be doubted whether there is anywhere a more 
genial climate than that of southern New England. Farther 
north the winters are too cold; farther south the summers are 
too hot. In this temperate region there is perhaps as desirable 
a blending of heat and cold as can anywhere else be found. 

Thorfinn was delighted with the spot. He found grapes in 
rich clusters, wheat growing wild. Through the winter no 
snow fell, and the cattle fed in the open fields. The natives, 
who may not have heard of the infamous assault of Thorwald 
in Massachusetts Bay, gathered around in large numbers and 
with the most friendly feelings. They brought in furs and 
skins, which they were eager to exchange for the knives, hatch- 
ets, and beads, which the strangers brought. The little hamlet 
of log huts which Thorfinn erected on the shore, he called 
Thorfinn's Buder, or Thorfinn's Building. 

The Icelandic chronicler of this enterprise writes that the 
natives valued very highly the red cloth the strangers brought. 
They would give furs of the richest fibre for a piece not broader 
than a finger's breadth, which they bound around their heads 
like a crown. 

We have mentioned, that, at Buzzard's Bay, an exploring party 
had been sent out to visit the region north and east. This 
company consisted of eight men, led by an Icelander of very 
2 



18 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



enterprising spirit, named Thorhall. He is represented as a 
man of very dark complexion, of stout build, and great physical 
strength. They embarked in a large boat, sailed along the 
eastern coast of Cape Cod, and then struck across Massachu- 
setts Bay, north-westerly towards the coast of Maine. 

On this passage he encountered a north-west wind of such 
fury and continuance, that, according to the almost incredible 
statement, he was driven entirely across the Atlantic Ocean to 
the coast of Ireland. As the story goes, he and his men, upon 
landing, were made slaves. 

At the Narraganset settlement dissensions arose between the 
Northmen and the natives. Battles ensued. The Northmen 
were worsted in the conflict, as probably they deserved to be. 
Impartial history must declare, that, perhaps without exception, 
in the battles waged in this country between the Europeans 
and the natives, the Europeans were the aggressors. The 
natives seem invariably to have fought to avenge some wrongs 
previously received. 

The Northmen, who were but little better armed than the 
natives, and far outnumbered by them, found their position very 
perilous. Thorfinn decided to break up his colony and return 
to Greenland, but he had heard no tidings from Thorhall : he 
therefore took one of his ships, and sailed in search of him. 
The rest of his company he left on the shore at Buzzard's Bay. 

It is supposed that he reached the coast of Maine. There he 
cast anchor at the mouth of a river. Endless forests were 
spread out before him, with scarcely any open space. Thorfinn, 
disappointed in his search for Thorhall, returned to his com- 
panions whom he had left at Buzzard's Bay, and there he passed 
the winter. It was his third winter in Vineland. 

In the spring of 1011 he again spread his sails, and returned 
to Greenland. There are some indications in the narrative, that 
a few men were left in the colony at the bay : this is, however, 
uncertain. Thorfinn took with him two native boys. Whether 
they were carried away by stealth, or of their own free will, is 
not known. The report he gave of the climate and its produc- 
tions, and the exhibition he made of its furs and skins, and of 
rare varieties of wood, inspired others with the desire to visit 
these regions of so much promise. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



19 



It was then supposed that Vineland belonged to Europe, — 
that it was merely an extension of the coasts of Norway and 
Sweden. They called the natives Skrellings, or little men, 1 the 
same name which they had given to the Esquimaux of the 
extreme north. In a very celebrated work, written about that 
time by Adam of Bremen, entitled " Ecclesiastical History of 
the North of Europe," we find the following curious passage: — 

" Sueno, King of Denmark, to whom I paid a visit, described to me, in 
conversation on the northern countries, among many other islands, one 
which had been called Vineland, because the vine would grow there without 
any cultivation, and because it produced the best sort of wine. Plenty of 
fruits grow in this country without planting. This is not mere rumor. I 
have this news from very authentic and trustworthy relations of the Danes. 
Beyond this land, however, no habitable country is found. On the con- 
trary, every thing to the north is covered with ice and eternal night." 

This is the first description of New England which is given 
to the reading public of Europe. It is supposed, from inciden- 
tal allusions which are found in the annals of those days, that 
after this there were many commercial expeditions to Vineland, 
to obtain furs, skins, wood, and other commodities, for the 
Greenland and Iceland markets. Of these no special record 
was made. 

As it is stated, that, in the year 1121, a bishop by the name 
of Erik visited Vineland on a Christian mission, it is proba- 
ble that there was some colony on the coast, or perhaps scat- 
tered colonies, where Northmen were engaged in trading with 
the natives, fishing, and wood-cutting. The beauty, salubrity, 
and fertility of the country, compared with Greenland and 
Iceland, must have presented strong inducements to visit the 
sunny realm, and to remain there. 

In Newport, R.I., there are the ruins of a stone tower, 
which have evidently been battered by the storms of ages. As 
the origin of the building is entirely lost in the haze of dis- 
tance, it is by many supposed that the tower was built by the 
hands of the Northmen. The architecture is neither above nor 
below their capabilities. The building might have been con- 

1 This is probably the signification of the term, though various other interpre- 
tations have been suggested. 



20 



THE BISTORT OF MAINE. 



structed as a citadel of defence, or for industrial purposes. In 
view of the facts contained in these pages, it is not unreasona- 
ble to suppose that the venerable tower remains a memorial of 

One or two hundred years 
of silence pass away. The 
storms of winter wail through 
the forests of Vineland. The 
suns of summer clothe the 
extended landscape in verd- 
ure, opening the flowers, and 
ripening the grapes. Indian 
hunting-bands, of unknown 
name and language, wander 
through the solitudes in pur- 
old stone tower, or mill, Newport. gu j t f t h e b ear? the deer, the 

moose, and, after life's brief and joyless dream, vanish in death. 
But from these awful solitudes no voice reaches us. We have 
no record of the joys or griefs of these benighted children of 
the forest. We simply know that everywhere upon this globe, 
— this residence of fallen humanity, — man is born to mourn. 
In the wigwam of the savage, as in the palace of the monarch, 
eyes must weep, and hearts must bleed. 

As we have mentioned, the Northmen called Nova Scotia 
Markland, or, " The Country of the Woods." As there were 
no definite boundaries then conceived of, this name included 
the northern portion of Maine, as Vineland included its south- 
ern portion. An Icelandic geographer, in his description of the 
globe, writes, his language being translated intc modern 
terms : — 

1 ' From northern Russia, the land extends northerly to uninhabited des- 
erts, until Greenland commences. Thence, towards the south, lie New- 
foundland, Nova Scotia, and Vineland. It is supposed that Vineland 
stretches out towards Africa. England and Scotland, form one island. Ice- 
land is a large island on the north of Ireland. All these countries are in 
that part of the world called Europe." 

The fact must forever remain inexplicable, why the North- 
men, after having discovered and partially colonized the fair 




* 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



21 



realms of Vineland, should have abandoned them entirely, 
while they continued their settlements in the dreary regions 
of Greenland and Iceland. They called the region 44 Vineland 
the Good." They extolled, in merited praise, the capacious 
harbors and the beautiful rivers with which this goodly land 
was blessed. Here the purple grapes hung in clusters ; apples, 
pears, peaches, and an innumerable variety of plums, grew in 
orchards which Nature's hand had planted. Indian corn waved 
gracefully in spontaneous growth. They found pure water, 
fertile fields, and sunny skies. Wood was in abundance, for 
buildings, to cheer the winter fireside, and for the mechanic 
arts. Yet all this they abandoned for bleak and frigid realms 
in the neighborhood of the north pole. 

The Northmen, as we have said, did not consider Vineland a 
new world. They thought it only a continuation of their own 
Scandinavian land. Iceland became quite a noted republic. 
Thriving colonies rose on the icebound coasts of Greenland ; 
and yet Vineland was left, for several hundred years, to the 
undisturbed possession of its savage inhabitants. 

The centuries passed slowly away, and Vineland was forgot- 
ten. The colonies in Greenland perished. Iceland, far away 
amidst arctic seas, was isolated, and scarcely known to exist by 
Southern Europe. When, in 1492, Columbus discovered the 
islands of the West Indies, he supposed himself to be upon the 
coast of Asia. Five years after this, Henry VII. fitted out an 
expedition from Bristol, England, supposing that China might 
be reached by crossing the Atlantic in very high latitudes. 
The command of this expedition was probably intrusted to 
John Cabot." 1 

This renowned voyager had three sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and 
Sancius, all of whom seem to have inherited in a degree the nau- 
tical taste and the love of adventure of their father. Sebastian, 
in particular, subsequently attained world-wide renown. A fleet 
of five ships sailed from Bristol, England, in the spring of 1497. 

1 There has been much discussion by antiquarians in reference to the voyages 
of John Cabot and his son Sebastian, which it woxild be out of place to introduce 
here. Those who feel interested in that question will find it fully presented in 
the Documentary History of Maine, by William Willis, vol. i. I give the narra- 
tive here as it is generally received. 



22 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



John Cabot was intrusted with the command. 1 His three sons 
accompanied him. In the instructions furnished by the king, 
he was authorized to sail under the royal banner to all parts, 
in search of islands or countries unknown to Christians. He 
was to plant that banner, and to reign over the countries he 
might discover, as the king's vassal. In this patent, as it 
was called, the voyage was to be directed to the east, west, or 
north ; it being understood that the south belonged to Spain and 
Portugal, as the first discoverers. Cabot and his associates 
were to provide every thing for the expedition at their own 
cost. They had nothing from the king, but the royal authority 
and protection as their passport. 

We know but little in respect to this voyage. Sebastian 
wrote an account of it ; but his manuscript is lost. 2 It is con- 
jectured that the Cabots caught the first sight of the North- 
American Continent, on the coast of Labrador, on the 24th of 
June, 1497. 3 Some contend that the land which they first 
made was the Island of Cape Breton. Having run along the 
coast, we know not whether north or south, three hundred 
leagues, they returned to Bristol early in August, 1497. The 
Cabots were received with great joy ; for it was supposed that 
they had discovered the empire of China. 

We hear nothing more of John Cabot. He probably soon 
died. One year after this, in 1498, Sebastian Cabot sailed with 
two ships from Bristol, in the month of May. It is said that 
he touched the coast of Labrador far in the north. Finding it 
intensely cold, even in July, with vast islands of ice floating 
around, and the land trending to the east, he directed his 
course to the south. 4 Coasting the southern shores of Lab- 
rador, he cast anchor at Newfoundland. He was seeking a 
passage to India. As he cruised along, he kept the coast 
constantly in view on his right. Leaving behind him the forest- 
crowned cliffs of Nova Scotia, he entered what is called the 

1 Some authorities say that there were but four vessels, and that the vessel 
which Lore Admiral Cabot was called "The Mathe-w." It is also said that not 
John Cabot, but his son Sebastian, had the command. 

2 See Biddle's Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, p. 221. London, 1832. 

3 Biddle's Memoir, p. 52. 

* Galvano's Discoveries of the World, p. 88. London, 1601. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



23 



broad Gulf of Maine, eagerly examining all the indentations 
of its sublime, jagged, solitary shores. 

The highlands of Maine can be seen at a great distance on 
the ocean. There was a continuous line of coast reaching out 
before him. It is supposed that he continued his voyage along 
the whole length of the coast of Maine, and across Massachu- 
setts Bay, until he found himself land-locked, as it were, by the 
long curvature of Cape Cod. 1 Rounding this hook of sand, his 
hopes were probably greatly revived by seeing the open ocean, 
extending far away to the west. Whether he discovered the 
harbor of New York can never be known. Finding, to his dis- 
appointment, the land taking a southern turn, and his provisions 
falling short, after reaching the latitude of Cape Hatteras he 
entered upon his homeward voyage. 

Great was his disappointment at this result of his voyage. 
Instead of finding the rich and populous realms of China, he 
encountered only uncultivated and savage wilds, blocking up his 
way. He was the first to recognize that the new world was a 
vast barrier between Western Europe and Eastern Asia. 2 

It was this voyage of Sebastian Cabot, along so large a por- 
tion of the coast of the North American Continent, upon which 
England founded her claim to the possession of the country 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific shore. The breadth of the 
continent was then entirely unknown. It was a received law 
of nations, that the discovery of a coast entitled the nation by 
whom the discovery was made to the possession of that terri- 
tory, to the exclusion of the right of any other European power. 
It was also an acknowledged principle of national law, that the 
discovery and exploration of a river entitled the nation, by 
which this exploration was made, to the territory which that 
river and its tributaries drained. 

English explorers were the first to behold the coast of these 
limitless and unexplored realms. Their flag was the first to 
wave over these waters. Hence England claimed the continent 
for nearly its whole extent. 

1 Documentary History of the State of Maine, by William Willis, vol. i p. 141. 

2 New York Historical Collections, vol. i. p. 23. 

3 Asher's Life of Henry Hudson. London, 1860. 



24 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



But France discovered the St. Lawrence, the series of majes- 
tic lakes ; and her flag first floated upon the Mississippi, from its 
source to its mouth. Hence France claimed the Valley of the 
Mississippi, in its then unknown grandeur of expanse, — almost 
a world in itself. These conflicting claims led to the clash of 
arms, to demoniac battles, to horrors of blood, misery, and death, 
which can never adequately be told. 

Soon after the expedition of the Cabots, the Portuguese sent 
vessels to explore the coast of North America. In the year 
1500 Gaspar Cortereal, a man of a noble family, left Lisbon with 
two ships. It is said that the first land he made was the east 
coast of Newfoundland. Following the shore towards the 
south, he came probably to the coast of Maine. He describes 
the country as abounding in forests, well adapted for ship-build- 
ing, with large rivers, and a sea-coast well stocked with fish of 
various kinds, especially with codfish. 

With villany, which even the moral darkness of those days 
cannot extenuate, he enticed fifty-seven of the natives, men and 
boys, on board his ship, and, luring them below deck, closed the 
hatchways upon them, and carried them off to sell as slaves in 
Spain. Fifty of these he had on board his own vessel. Seven 
he put in his consort. But an avenging God decided that he 
should not return to Spain to sell, in her slave-marts, the victims 
he had stolen. In some fearful, ocean tragedy, which no eye 
but that of God beheld, the ship, its guilty commander, and 
all its inmates were ingulfed. 1 

The Venetian ambassador at Lisbon witnessed the arrival, in 
the Portuguese capital, of the seven Indians placed in the con- 
sort. In a letter which this Venetian, M. Pasqualigo, wrote, 
describing their appearance, he says, — 

" These natives are tall, well-built, and in color, stature, and aspect, 
strongly resemble the Gypsies of Europe. They are admirably calculated 
for labor, and will make the best slaves I have ever seen." 2 

1 History of the East Coast of North America. By Dr. J. G. Kohl. Bremen, 
Germany. 

2 This letter was published in Vicenza, Italy, 1507. It was entitled, " Psesi 
Novamenti Betrovati et Nov? Mondo," {The Country newly discovered, and called the 
New World). 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



25 



About twenty years passed away when Francis L, king of 
France, fitted out an expedition of four ships to explore the 
coast of North America. The enterprise was intrusted to the 
command of an Italian from Florence, by the name of Giovanni 
da Verrazano. We have not a very full account of this voy- 
age. The most, careful investigation has led to the opinion, 
that the little fleet sailed from France in the autumn of 1523. 
In a storm two ships were separated from the rest. Whether 
they were lost, or returned to France, we know not. We hear 
of them no more. 

After various adventures and delays, it is supposed that Ver- 
razano, on the 10th of March, 1524, caught sight of the land at 
Cape Fear, on the coast of what is now North Carolina. He 
sailed about thirty leagues south ; finding no good harbor, he 
turned back to the north. He cast anchor, as is supposed, near 
New River Inlet, about sixty miles west of Cape Lookout. The 
following is his account of that region, as he then beheld it, 
and as it still appears : — 

" The first line of the coast is sandy. Behind this bar, there are small 
rivers and arms of the sea, that enter at certain creeks, and wash the shore 
on both sides. Beyond this, there is seen a country rising in height above 
the sandy shore. It has many fair fields and plains, with forests of gigantic 
trees. The water is shallow, and the shore without harbors." 

Continuing his cruise, he sailed around Cape Hatteras, and, at 
the distance of about one hundred and fifty miles north, cast 
anchor near the land. A French ship had been wrecked in 
this vicinity, and one poor boy was washed ashore. The In- 
dians nursed him as if h^were their own child. They re- 
ceived Verrazano with the greatest hospitality. He requited 
them by enticing a little Indian boy on board his ship, and 
stealing him. 1 

Continuing to sail along in sight of the coast, coming to 
anchor every night, he reached, as is supposed, New York Har- 
bor. It can scarcely be doubted, that, in the following descrip- 
tion which he gives, he alludes to that region, and that the 
hills were the highlands of Neversink. 

1 Expedition of Verrazano ; Documentary History of the State of Maine, 
vol. i. p. 225. 



26 



THE ni STORY OF MAINE. 



" We anchored at a very pleasant spot among prominent hills. In the 
midst of these there ran down to the sea a great body of water. It was so 
deep at its mouth, that any heavily-laden vessel might pass into it." 

Sailing along the southern shore of Long Island, he again 
cast anchor, it is supposed, in the beautiful Narraganset Bay. 
He remained here, probably in Newport Harbor, a fortnight. 
The Indians, having forgotten the outrages of the Northmen, 
and not knowing what a treacherous man they had to deal with, 
received him confidingly, and welcomed him to their hospitable 
wigwams. He made several excursions into the interior, and 
was everywhere greeted with friendly words and deeds. Dur- 
ing this visit, it is probable that he kept the stolen boy carefully 
concealed. 

Verrazano was the first European, after the Northmen, who 
entered this lovely hixj. It is interesting to observe how singu- 
larly his description accords with theirs in his allusions to the 
beauty of the scenery, the fertility of the soil, and the luxuri- 
ance of its vines and grapes. 

On the 5th of Ma} 7 he again spread his sails. Coasting along 
the shores of New England, a distance of four hundred and 
fifty miles, keeping the land ever in view, he must have entered 
the great gulf of Maine. He gives quite a minute report of 
the coast of Maine, and of his intercourse with its inhabitants. 1 

He found the region mountainous, with dense forests of pines, 
hemlocks, spruce, firs, and such other trees as flourish in cold 
climates. He did not know that his predecessor in visiting 
that coast, Gaspar Cortereal, had practised, but three or four 
} r ears before, villany upon the natives even surpassing his own ; 
for, while he had stolen but one boyv Cortereal bad kidnapped 
fifty-seven of the unoffending Indians. He was therefore sur- 
prised to find that the Indians of Maine did not receive him 
with smiles of welcome. He writes, — 

" They seem very different from the other Indians we have met. The 
others were very courteous and gentle. But these are rude and hostile. 
They are so barbarous, that by no efforts could we induce them to have 
any traffic with us. They clothe themselves with the skins of beasts. 
Their food, so far as we could perceive, was obtained from hunting and 

1 Hakluyt's Voyages, vol. hi. p. 295. London, 1600. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



27 



fishing, with certain fruits and roots which grew spontaneously. They had 
no grain, and we saw no sign of tillage. They would sometimes come to 
the seashore, and stand upon craggy rocks, while we approached in our boats 
beneath. They would let down a rope with whatever they were pleased to 
offer, demanding, in return, knives, fishhooks, and tools. They took no 
account of our courtesy, but kept a careful watch, that we should not be 
permitted to land. When we had nothing more to exchange, and departed, 
they showed all the signs of hatred which it was possible to invent. We 
went on shore with twenty-five armed men. They shot at us with their 
bows, made great outcries, and fled to the woods." 1 

There is something truly affecting in the account thus 
given of the dread with which these outraged Indians regarded 
the kidnapping Europeans. Everywhere in the New World, 
where the Europeans first landed, they were received with 
truly brotherly kindness by the natives. They manifested no 
hostility until they became exasperated by the most atrocious 
wrongs. 

During these years there were many privafe expeditions 
fitted oat from England, France, Spain, and Portugal, of which 
no record has been made. It is certain that many of these 
unprincipled and reckless adventurers cheated, robbed, and 
insulted the Indians without any mercy. 

Verrazano returned to the port of Dieppe, in France, in July, 
1524. In his report to the king, he had the assurance to say 
that he had discovered a new country which had never been 
seen by any one in ancient or modern times. 2 

About a year after the voyage of Verrazano, which we have 
described, the Emperor Charles V. of Spain sent an expedition 
to the north-east coast of North America to search for a pas- 
sage to the East Indies. Estevan Gomez was placed in command. 
He sailed from Corunna on the 10th of February, 1525. We 
know but little of his voyage, except that he entered many of 
the bays and ports of New England ; that he named the terri- 
tory, of which Maine is a part, the " Country of Gomez ; " and 

1 It is supposed that this landing could not have been many leagues from 
Portsmouth. But whether it was within the present bounds of Maine, or New 
Hampshire, cannot be known. 

2 The Italian historian, Kamusio, says that Verrazano made another voyage 
to the New World, where he was killed in a battle with the natives. Others say 
that he was taken by the Spaniards, and hanged as a pirate. 



28 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



that he was guilty of the enormous crime of " catching as 
many Indians as he could take on board his small vessels, and 
carrying them to Spain." We are not told how these poor cap- 
tives were taken. But it seems probable that he conveyed 
them to Cuba, a Spanish colony, where he sold them as slaves. 

The French had given the territory, then claimed and par- 
tially occupied by Spain, the Indian name of Norumbega. The 
limits of the region were exceedingly undefined. At one time 
it included the whole coast to the southern extreme of Florida. 
Then it was restricted to New England, afterwards to Maine, 
and finally to the region of the Penobscot alone. The Penob- 
scot they called The Great River of Norumbega. 1 

We have very vague accounts of an English expedition to the 
coast of Maine in a ship " The Mary of Guilford," commanded 
by John Rut. This was in the year 1567. It is said that he 
frequently landed, with parties of his men, to explore the in- 
terior. The account which we have of this enterprise is 
meagre in the extreme. This was the second English expedi- 
tion after that of Sebastian Cabot. Though Northmen, French- 
men, and Spaniards had previously landed on the coast of New 
England, this is the first occasion upon which we are distinctly 
informed that the feet of Englishmen pressed our soil. 

1 Bainusio, torn. iii. fol. 433. See also Charts of French Discoveries, Maine 
Historical Collection, vol. i. p. 231. Ramusio Writes, " Going "beyond the cape 
of the Bretons, there is a country which extends west soixth-west to Florida, a 
good five hundred leagues. The inhabitants of this country are a very pleasant, 
tractable, and peaceful people. The country is abounding with all sorts of fruit. 
There grow oranges, almonds, wild grapes, and many other fruits of odoriferous 
trees. The country is named by the inhabitants Norumbega. Between it and 
Brazil there is a great gulf, in which are the islands of the West Indies." 



CHAPTER II. 



VOYAGES OF THEVET, PftTNG, DE MONTS, AND WEYMOUTH. 

Journal of Thevet — Pring's Voyage — His Description of Penobscot Bay — De 
Monts Patent — His Strange Adventures — Takes Possession in the Name 
of the King of France — Alarm in England — Weymouth's Expedition — 
Anchors at Mohegan and Pemaquid — Friendly Intercourse with the 
Natives — Infamous Conduct of Weymouth — Kidnapping the Natives — 
- Exploration of the Kennebec — Planting the Cross — The Homeward 
, Voyage. 

TN the year 1556, a French gentleman by the name of Andre 



-L Thevet, a scholar and a writer of much repute, desiring to 
see the New World, took passage in a vessel which sailed along the 
entire east coast of both South and North America. 1 Thevet 
visited the coast of Maine, and gives the following description 
of the Penobscot River : — 

" Here we entered a river which is one of the finest in the whole world. 
We call it Norumbega. It is marked on some charts as the Grand River. 
The natives call it Agoncy. Several beautiful rivers flow into it. Upon 
its banks the French formerly erected a small fort, about ten leagiies from 
its mouth. It was called the Fort of Norumbega, and was surrounded by 
fresh water. 

"Before you enter this river, there appears an island surrounded by 
eight small islets. These are near the country of the Green Mountains. 
About three leagues into the river, there is an island four leagues in cir- 
cumference, which the natives call Aiayascon. 2 It would be easy to plant 
on this island, and to build a fortress, which would hold in check the whole 
surrounding country. Upon landing, we saw a great multitude of people 

1 Thevet gave a very interesting account of this voyage in a work entitled, 
"Les Singularites de la France Antarctique, autrement nomme Ainerique." 
( The Singularities of Antarctic France, otherwise called America. ) 

2 Islesborough. 




30 



TEE II I ST OR Y OF MAINE. 



coming down upon us in such numbers that you might have supposed them 
to be a flight of starlings. The men came first, then the women, then the 
boys, then the girls. They were all clothed in the skins of wild animals. 

" Considering their aspect, and mode of advancing, we mistrusted them, 
and retired on board our vessel. They, perceiving our fear, made signs of 
friendship. The better to assure us, they sent to our vessel several of their 
principal men, with presents of provisions. We returned a few trinkets of 
little value, with which they were highly pleased. The next morning, I, 
with some others, was commissioned to meet them, to see if we could obtain 
more provisions, of which we stood in great need. As we entered the house 
of the chief, who was called Peramick, we saw several slaughtered animals 
hanging on the beams. 

" The chief gave us a hearty welcome. To show his affection he ordered 
a fire to be built, on which meat and fish were placed to be roasted. Upon 
this some warriors came in, bringing to the chief the dissevered heads of 
six men whom they had taken in battle. The sight terrified us. Fearing 
that we might suffer in the same way, we, towards evening, secretly retired 
to our ship, without bidding our host good-by. 

" This greatly displeased him. In the morning he came to the ship with 
three of his children. His countenance was very sad, for he thought he 
had offended us. He said to me, in his own language, — 

" ' Go back on land with me, my friend and brother. Come and eat and 
drink such as we have. We assure you upon oath, by heaven, earth, moon, 
and stars, that you shall not fare worse than we do ourselves.' 

" Seeing the good affection of this old man, twenty of us went again on 
land, all well armed. We went to his house, where we were feasted, and 
presented with whatever he possessed. Meanwhile large numbers of his 
people arrived. They all greeted us in the most affectionate manner, de- 
claring that they were our friends. Late in the evening, when we wished 
to retire, they all entreated us to remain through the night. But we could 
not be persuaded to sleep with them. And so we retired to our vessel. 
Having remained in this place five days, we weighed anchor, and, parting 
from them with a marvellous contentment on both sides, went out upon the 
open sea." 1 

Nearly half a century passes away before we have any other 
tidings of importance in reference to Maine. There were many 
expeditions to other parts of the New World, an account of which 
would not be in place here. In the year 1602 an English naviga- 
tor, Bartholomew Gosnold, crossed the Atlantic ; and it is said by 
some, while it is disputed by others, that he touched the coast of 



1 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. vii p. 243. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



31 



Maine near Mount Desert. 1 The next year (1603) Martin Pring, 
with two vessels, " The Speedwell " and " The Discover," sailed 
from Milford Haven, with clothing, hardware, and trinkets, to 
trade with the natives for furs and for sassafras, which was 
deemed an herb of great medicinal value. 

On the 7th of June, Pring entered Penobscot Bay. He gives 
a glowing account of the almost unrivalled scenery there pre- 
sented. They found excellent anchorage, and fishing-ground 
never surpassed. The majestic forests deeply impressed them. 
Upon one of the islands they saw a number of silver-gray foxes. 
This led them to give the name of Fox Islands to the group. 
Sailing along the coast in a south-easterly direction, they passed 
by the beautiful islands which stud Casco Bay, and entered a 
river which was probably the Saco. This they ascended about 
six miles. It seems probable that they also entered the Kenne- 
bunk and York Rivers. Finding no natives to trade with, they 
sailed farther south, where they obtained quite a valuable cargo. 2 

The same year (1603) Henry IV. of France issued a patent 
granting to De Monts the region of North America between the 
fortieth and forty-sixth degrees of latitude ; that is, all the terri- 
tory between the island of Cape Breton and the mouth of the 
Hudson River. There was no western boundary but the Pacific 
Ocean. He was entitled to the exclusive trade with the natives, 
and was authorized to colonize and rule this vast territory accord- 
ing to his discretion. This realm of truly imperial territorial 
grandeur was called Acadia, a corruption of Arcadia in Greece. 3 

De Monts first made the land near the present site of Liver- 
pool in Nova Scotia. It was on the 6th of May, 1604. Sailing 
around Cape Sable, he entered the Bay of Fundy, and, cruising 
along the eastern shore, found an admirable harbor, encircled by 
protecting hills, and yet opening to fertile valleys. This place 

1 Mr. Unfits King Sewall, in his valuable book entitled "Ancient Dominions of 
Maine," argues that Nbrumbega was not a province, but a large Indian town at 
the mouth of the Damariscotta River, between the Kennebec and the Penobscot. 
See the question fully discussed pp. 31-35. 

2 A Brief Narration of the Original Undertakings for the Advancement of Plan- 
tations in America. By Sir Ferdinando Gorges. London, 1658. 

8 British Dominion in America, book hi. part ii. 246. Some have argued that 
the name was derived from an Indian tribe. 



32 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



was selected for the location of a small colony, and it received 
the name of Port Royal. Subsequently, upon the province 
being ceded to England, the name was changed to Annapolis, 
in honor of the British queen Anne. This was in the extreme 
west of the present province of Nova Scotia. 

De Monts, leaving a companion, M. Poutrincourt, in charge of 
the colony, continued his voyage. 1 Crossing the Bay of Fundy 
to what is now New Brunswick, he discovered a large river, to 
which he gave the name of St. John, which name it still retains. 
He then continued his course to Passamaquoddy Bay, now the 
extreme eastern border of the State of Maine. He explored this 
bay, and ascended the St. Croix and Schoodic Rivers to an island 
containing about fifteen acres. It being late in fall, De Monts 
decided to pass the winter there. Selecting a spot easy of 
defence, in the midst of a grand forest which afforded shelter 
from the piercing northern winds, he built several log-cabins for 
his men. 

The winter was very severe, so that they kept much of the 
time within their dwellings. Occasionally savages were seen ; 
and it would appear that De Monts stood in great fear of them. 
He planted cannon to command the approaches, kept a constant 
watch night and day, and seems to have discouraged all advances 
on the part of the Indians. He was probably unwilling to have 
them know his weakness. His people suffered terribly from 
the scurvy. Out of a ship's company of about eighty, thirty-six 
died during the winter. 2 

It was not until the middle of May that the survivors were 
able to re-embark in search of a milder climate. Coasting west- 
wardly, they entered Penobscot Bay. Thence, continuing their 
cruise, they cast anchor at the mouth of the Kennebec. Here 
De Monts raised a cross, and took possession of the country in the 
name of the King of France. He traversed Casco Bay, occa- 
sionally casting anchor at attractive spots along the silent 
shores, which seemed to invite a settlement. But his company 
being greatly diminished, and the Indians being manifestly 

1 In reference to this settlement, see Holmes's Am. Ann., p. 148. 

2 History of De Monts* Voyages, par Mark L'Escarbot, translated in Churchill's 
Coll., p. 796. L' Escarbot accompanied De Monts on this expedition. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



33 



unfriendly, as well they might be, after going as far south as 
Cape Cod, he returned to Port Royal. 

Here De Monts found another ship from France, and an acces- 
sion of forty men to strengthen the colony. He constructed a 
fort, built several log-houses, and, having given minute direction 
for the management of affairs, returned to France. Four 
gentlemen of much distinction were left to administer the 
government of the colony, and to explore the country. 

Rumors of these important movements reached the British 
government. The immensity of the territory which France 
claimed, and the efforts of the French to colonize those countries, 
created alarm. The Earl of Southampton, with Lord Arundel and 
others, under the patronage of the crown, fitted out a ship to 
visit these coasts. The object proclaimed was to find a north- 
west passage to India. The real object was to watch the 
proceedings of the French, and to prepare the way for the 
establishment of English colonies. 

A thoroughly-built, well-furnished ship, " The Archangel," 
sailed from the Downs on the 31st of March, 1605. Capt. 
George Weymouth was in command. On the 12th of May the 
white sands of Cape Cod hove in sight. He directed his course 
northerly toward the coast of Maine. On the 17th he came to 
an island about six miles from the shore, and about noon cast 
anchor upon its north side. 

The island, to his eyes weary of gazing upon the drear 
expanse of the ocean, appeared very beautiful. He judged the 
island to be about six miles in circumference, embracing an area 
of a thousand acres. The anchorage was good, and cod and had- 
dock were caught in abundance. Waterfowl in large flocks 
were hovering over the cliffs. Weymouth went on shore in his 
long-boat, and took possession of the island in the name of King 
James I., King of England. He also erected a cross, in token 
that the Christian religion was to be there established. He soon 
after gave a very terrible exhibition of his practical piety. From 
his mast-head he discerned far away in the distance the peaks 
of a ridge of mountains. To the island he gave the name of St. 
George. It is now generally admitted that this was the present 
island of Monhegan. 

3 



34 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



After a tarry here of two days, taking in wood and water, on 
Sunday the 19th Weymouth again spread his sails, and, passing 
several other islands, reached the mainland at the distance of 
about nine miles. Rosier, the historian of the voyage, writes : 
"It pleased God to send us, far beyond our expectations, in a 
most safe berth, defended from all winds, in an excellent depth 
of water for ships of any burden, and which was named Pente- 
cost Harbor." 

Weymouth, with a well-armed party, explored the shores : 
others engaged in fishing. They obtained an abundance of 
delicious salmon, and other fishes in great variety. They also 
feasted upon lobsters and other shell-fish. Wild currants were 
found, and luxuriant vines which promised an abundance of 
grapes. They found the soil to be very rich. Digging a gar- 
den, they planted pease, barley, and other seeds, which in sixteen 
days grew up eight inches. This was the first attempt made 
by Europeans to cultivate the soil of Maine. 

Fourteen well-armed men were sent out in a boat on an 
exploring tour. From the account given, it is supposed that 
they visited Squirrel Island and Cape Xewagen. In accordance 
with the custom of the times, Weymouth raised a cross upon 
every important point at which he touched. On the 30th of 
May, Capt. Weymouth, leaving fourteen men in charge of the 
ship, which was carefully moored, took thirteen men, in the 
pinnace, to survey the channels and the adjoining region. 

About five o'clock in the evening of this day three canoes 
were seen, in a distant part of the harbor, moving towards the 
ship. The} 7 landed upon a point not far from the anchorage, 
and the men built a fire. The crew of " The Archangel " tried to 
make friendly signs, and beckoned them to come on board. Soon 
a canoe, with three men, put off from the shore. Drawing 
near, one of the men, standing up in the canoe, hailed the crew 
in a loud tone of voice, but in language which they could not 
understand. 

The crew exhibited knives, hatchets, beads, and other trin- 
kets, to lure them on board. But the Indians had doubtless 
heard of the fiendlike treachery which previous European vis- 
itants had practised. They dared not trust themselves with 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



35 



men who had been guilty of kidnapping crimes, at which even 
savages might blush. But the bribe presented was almost 
resistless. Cautiously they paddled alongside. A few articles 
were tossed to them, which they received with evident delight; 
but nothing could induce them to go on board the ship. They 
soon returned to their companions on the shore. 

This canoe was of birch-bark. The Indians were men of 
ordinary size, and of very -symmetrical forms. Their bodies 
and faces were painted with various colors. They ■ were very 
slightly dressed, with mantles of neatly tanned deer-skin fas- 
tened around the neck, and hanging nearly to the knees ; a flap 
of beaver-skin covered the loins ; and their feet were shod with 
leather buskins. The hair on the top of the head was long, 
and bound in a tuft. 

The next morning, apparently the same men came alongside 
again. They were finally induced to come on board. They 
ate heartily of the food which was presented, and gazed with 
astonishment upon the various objects which met their eyes. 
Being informed, by signs, that the object of the expedition was 
to open a friendly trade with the Indians, exchanging with 
them hatchets, knives, and other articles, for skins and furs, 
they seemed much pleased, and returned to their companions 
on the shore in a very happy frame of mind. 

It is inferred, from the narrative, that Weymouth, in his 
pinnace, ran along the coast to the north-east about sixty miles, 
that he entered Penobscot Bay, and ascended the river as far 
as Camden Heights, there they landed, and spent a day in hunt- 
ing. They then followed up the stream as far as Belfast Bay. 
Here they erected a cross ; " which," Rosier writes, " was a 
thing never omitted by any Christian travellers." 

The charms of Penobscot Bay and River, as witnessed in the 
illumination of bright June mornings, seem to have delighted 
these voyagers as they had others who preceded them. The 
scenery is described as beautiful in the extreme, with luxuriant 
forests and verdant meadows. The river was wide, deep, and 
of crystal purity. A great variety of birds of varied plumage 
flitted through the groves, and their songs filled the air. There 
were many sheltered groves, with grassy banks, luring the voy- 



36 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



agers to the shore. In glowing phrase the journalist of the 
expedition writes, — 

" Many who had been travellers in sundry countries, and in most famous 
rivers, affirmed them not comparable to this. It is the most beautiful, rich, 
large, secure-harboring river that the world affordeth." 

The shallop returned to the ship. There is some diversity 
of opinion as to the spot of this anchorage. Some have supposed 
it to be at what is now called Townsend Harbor in Boothbay ; 
others think that the vessel was moored in the harbor of what is 
called Fisherman's Island. 

The Indians began to regain confidence, and soon twenty- 
eight appeared. Gradually they went on board the ship. 
Quite a brisk trade was carried on in the exchange of knives, 
beads, and such articles, for the skins of the beaver, the otter, 
and the sable. The natives were quite astonished at the process 
of writing, and watched with intense curiosity the writing 
down the names of the articles bought and sold. The captain 
excited their amazement by magnetizing the point of his sword, 
and then taking up with it needles, knives, and other such 
articles. 

Two of the Indians were invited to sup with the captain ; 
and they remained to attend the evening religious service. 
They behaved with the utmost decorum. Very modestly, and 
with kind regard for their wives and daughters, which was 
hardly to be expected, they asked the favor that a portion of a 
delicious dish of pease might be sent to the ladies It was 
given to them in pewter dishes, which in their eyes were more 
splendid than plates of gold to their entertainers. The dishes 
were all carefully brought back. 

Some of the ship's company visited the little Indian encamp- 
ment on the shore. They were treated with all the hospitality 
which could possibly be shown. A large fire was built, around 
which the Indians silently and respectfully gathered. Seats 
were carefully prepared for the guests, with cushions of deer- 
skin. The Indians had no delicacies with which to feast them, 
but they offered pipes and tobacco. The interview was a very 
pleasant one, though it could only be carried on by signs. The 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



37 



bows, arrows, and javelins of the Indians were examined. The 
bows were very strong: a feeble arm could scarcely bend them; 
but sinewy muscles would throw an arrow to a great distance. 
The javelins were very skilfully made of wood, which had 
almost the toughness and flexibility of steel. They were barbed 
with some very hard bone. 

One of the ship's company, Owen Griffin, was left on shore 
for the night. He was watchfully to observe every movement, 
to see if there were any indications of treachery. Three of 
the Indians were taken back to the ship as hostages for the 
safety of Griffin. The sumptuous couch prepared for the sav- 
ages was a mattress of old sails spread on what is called the 
orlop deck. There were one or two dogs on board. It would 
seem that these Indians were not very kindly received by the 
fierce dogs of the English : they stood in great terror of them, 
and feared to move about until the dogs were tied up. 

The Indians, of course, knew nothing of the sabbath. On 
Sunday morning five or six canoes came out, as usual, for traffic. 
Apparently the news of the arrival of the ship was spreading 
back into the country, and daily new parties of Indians were 
arriving at their encampment. Capt. Weymouth waved a 
signal for the canoes to retire. Though the reason must have 
been a great mystery to them, they all obeyed promptly, and 
did not return to the ship again during the day. 

But it was a picturesque scene, as, in the sunlight of that 
calm June sabbath, the voyagers gazed upon the panorama 
which encircled them. The ship was at anchor upon the mir- 
rored waters of a solitary cave, far away in the New World. 
Bays, inlets, and islands were opening in all directions behind 
them. Birch canoes filled with Indian men, women, and chil- 
dren, driven by the paddle, were gliding from shore to shore. 
Not far from the ship, on the land, were the few frail wigwams 
which the Indians had reared. The fire at which the women 
were cooking, the ascending smoke, the groups gathered around, 
all combined to present a picture as novel as it was attractive. 

Early the next morning, June 3, the canoes of the natives 
again approached the ship. Capt. Weymouth understood 
them to signify, by their signs, that their chief, with many of 



38 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



his followers, was at a little distance up the bay, with many 
furs. The captain manned one of his boats with eight strong 
rowers. First they rowed towards a point of land where the 
smoke of Indian fires was seen. 

There was a birch canoe, propelled by but three paddles, 
which brought the invitation to Capt. Weymouth to visit 
the chief. It was noted that the Indians, apparently with the 
greatest ease, could outstrip the boat, notwithstanding the 
utmost efforts of the rowers. The savages would run ahead, 
drop behind, circle round the boat, and play all manner of simi- 
lar antics. Capt. Weymouth, who soon after proved himself 
capable of committing the most atrocious acts of treachery, 
naturally suspected treachery on the part of the Indians. He 
therefore sent Owen Griffin on shore in the canoe, while he 
retained one of the Indians in the boat as a hostage. Griffin 
was carefully to reconnoitre the encampment of the chief, and 
to bring back his report. 

The Indians seemed to attempt no disguise. There were two 
hundred and eighty with the chief. They all had, as a matter 
of course, bows and arrows. There were dogs and tamed 
wolves with them. It did not seem that they had any furs at 
the point of land for traffic ; but they urged him to go farther 
up the stream now called Little River, where they said that 
their articles were stored. Griffin did not dare to go. But he 
was just as much in their power at the point as half a mile far- 
ther back ; and the Indian hostage was still in the boat. Had 
the Indians any thing to conceal, they would hardly have invited 
him to a more thorough examination of their strength and 
resources. 

Griffin returned to the boat with the report which his timidity 
suggested. Under these circumstances Capt. Weymouth did 
not think it safe to land. There seems to have been no proof 
whatever of treachery : still, as the Indians might not be more 
reliable than the Europeans were, it was necessary to practise 
the utmost caution. The boat returned to the srnp. 

That day the crew caught, from the ship's side, a large num- 
ber of cod and haddock. They also took many large lobsters. 
A party was sent on shore for water, and returned with their 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



39 



cask filled from a clear crystal spring. Mussels abounded 
among the rocks, and in many of them they found small 
pearls. 

It appears that the natives, from some unexplained reason, 
had their suspicions again aroused, that Capt. Weymouth might 
prove a foe in disguise. Two canoes, containing six men, cau- 
tiously approached the ship. They seemed afraid to go on 
board. At length two ventured to ascend the ship's side. 
Capt. Weymouth endeavored to lure the rest on board, but in 
vain. He exhibited to them a plate of savory pease, of which 
they were very fond : still they shook their heads. He gave 
them the pease. Rapidly they paddled ashore, and ate them. 
Having finished their repast, one of the Indians, a very hand- 
some, athletic, bold youth, returned with the can to the ship. 
He Avas lured to join the two in the cabin below, where they 
were entertained with food, and the exhibition of articles to 
excite their wonder. They know not that the cabin-door was 
locked against them, and that, by the foulest treachery, they 
were kidnapped. 

Capt. Weymouth was not satisfied with but three victims. 
He manned one of his boats with a crew of eight of his 
stoutest men, and sent them on shore, as if to traffic with the 
natives. 'There were but three Indians on the shore. It 
will be remembered that three Avere already locked up in 
in the cabin. As the boat touched the land, one of the Indi- 
ans withdrew into the woods. The kidnappers approached the 
other two with signs of friendship, and, as proof of their 
brotherly intentions, sat down Avith them around their fire, and 
presented them Avith another can of pease. They all ate to- 
gether in the most friendly manner. 

Watching their opportunity, and dividing their force, suddenly 
four of the crew sprang upon each one of their victims. The 
poor Indians made the most frantic resistance, and raised loud 
outcries for help. Their struggles were in vain. Their light 
clothing was soon torn from them. Naked, in the grasp of the 
men-stealers, they Avere dragged to the boat, and rowed to the 
ship. Here the convulsive struggles and shrieks were renewed. 
But the Indians were seized by the hair of the head, and 



40 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



dragged on board. " Thus," writes Rosier, the historian of the 
voyage, " we shipped five savages and two canoes, with all 
their bows and arrows." 1 

Edmund Burke says, that to speak of atrocious crime in mild 
language, is treason to virtue. Every honest man's blood 
should boil with indignation in contemplating a crime so 
utterly atrocious and inexcusable as this. These young men 
had come from their homes at Pemaquid to visit the strangers, 
the tidings of whose arrival had reached them. One of them 
was a chief. They were all men of rank. 

The first Indian who visited the Pilgrim Fathers at Ply- 
mouth, was Squantum, one of these unhappy captives. Fortu- 
nately he fell into kind hands in England, and, forgetting the 
crime of the men who stole him, became the warm friend of 
those who proved his benefactors. By them he was restored to 
his native country. It is believed that he became a sincere 
Christian. His final career is quite fully given in the Life of 
Miles Standish, as given in the " Pioneer and Patriot " series. 
With d} r ing breath he prayed that the Lord would receive him 
to the Englishman's heaven. 

Scarcely had these captives been made secure below, when, 
about one o'clock at noon, two large and highly decorated 
canoes were seen approaching. They composed a royal embassy 
sent by the head chief of the Pemaquid tribes. They were 
painted and dressed in the highest style of the barbarian court. 
One of them wore a very ingeniously constructed coronet, indi- 
cating that he was of royal blood. They came with an invita- 
tion for Capt. Weymouth to visit, with his ship, the home of 
their chief, which was distant but a few leagues. Little did 
they imagine, as they trod the deck of " The Archangel," bear- 
ing this kind invitation to the strangers, that five of their 
noblest men were languishing in a dark dungeon in the 
hold. 

Weymouth, who was now anxious to get away from the region 
as soon as possible, before the knowledge of his villany should 
be spread abroad, declined the invitation. He allowed the 

1 2 Belk. Biog., 135. Sn itb's Hist., p. 18. Prince's Ann., p. 15. Ancient 
Dominions, p. 68. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



41 



embassy to retire unmolested. Probably he had not room 
enough, in his small and crowded ship, for more than five 
captives. 

Immediately he made all sail, directing his course westerly. 
There are nowhere on the North-American continent, shores of 
more picturesque and sublime beauty than on the coast of Maine. 
No description can do justice to the wonderful variety of scenery 
presented by islands, craggy promontories, forest-crowned cliffs, 
inlets, bays, and coves. In the pleasant summers of Maine, there 
can be found no region on earth more delightful. 

Through these charming views " The Archangel " moved cau- 
tiously along about twenty-six miles, until the mouth of the 
Kennebec, then called the Sagadahock, was reached. It appears 
that the Kennebec and the Androscoggin in the days of the 
Indians were considered as terminating at what is now called 
Merrymeeting Bay. The outlet from that bay to the ocean, now 
called the Kennebec, was then called the Sagadahock. The 
Androscoggin, from Lewiston Falls to Merrymeeting Bay, was 
formerly called the Pejepscot. 1 

Prince says that Weymouth entered the Sagadahock through 
Pemaquid River. This is a small stream but fourteen miles in 
length from its source in Pemaquid Pond to its mouth. 2 Thus, 
by what may be called an inland passage, he reached the solitary 
waters of the river which may now be considered the second in 
importance in Maine. The historian gives a glowing account 
of the grandeur of the scenery continually opening before them. 
It was the season of pleasant June. The richest verdure 
crowned the banks and headlands. The winding stream 
presented many lovely coves and soft green meadows. Far 
in the distance the summits of towering mountains were 
seen. 

" The river," he writes, " as it runneth up into the main very nigh forty 
miles, toward the great mountains, beareth in breadth a mile, sometimes 
three quarters, and a half at the narrowest. And you shall never have 
under four or five fathoms water hard by the shore, and on both sides, 
every half mile, very gallant coves." 

1 Williamson's Hist, of Maine, vol.i. pp. 42-46. 

2 New England Chron., p. 15. 



42 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Soon after entering the river, " The Archangel " cast anchor ; 
and the captain took a boat, and, with a crew of seventeen well- 
armed men, rowed several miles up the stream. Then, touch- 
ing the shore, six men were left to guard the boat, while the 
remaining eleven, the captain included, set out to explore the 
country in the direction of some hills which they had seen from 
the ship, but which proved to be at a much greater distance than 
had been supposed. They travelled five miles inland, through a 
region which seemed to them exceedingly beautiful. The his- 
torian writes, in the quaint style of ancient days, — 

"In our march we passed over very good ground, pleasant and fertile, fit 
for pasture, having but little wood, and that oak ; like stands, left in the 
pastures of England, good and great, fit timber for any use. 

" And surely it did all resemble a stately park, wherein appear some old 
trees with high withered tops, and others flourishing with living green 
boughs. Upon the hills grew notable high timber trees, masts for ships of 
four hundred tons." 

Such was the appearance of the primitive forest and the wide- 
spread fields, two hundred and seventy years ago, in the vicinity 
of the present beautiful and thrifty city of Bath. Soon after the 
boat returned from this exploring expedition to the ship, an 
Indian canoe appeared, rapidly approaching from one of the 
numerous inlets on the east. It was propelled by the paddles 
of many men, and contained the royal ambassador who had con- 
veyed the invitation to Capt. Weymouth to visit the head chief. 
He had heard of the captain's treachery and of the captivity of 
his friends. Eager eyes had watched the course of the ship. 
This Indian prince had followed in her track, that he might, if 
possible, rescue his kidnapped countrymen ; and, if that were 
impossible, that he might warn other families, of the fiends who 
were hovering along their coasts. 

Their tears and supplications were all in vain. They were as 
powerless as the lamb in the jaws of the wolf. With wailings 
they returned to the families of the kidnapped men with the full 
conviction that the white man was a demon more to be dreaded 
than the most ferocious beast or the most venomous reptile ; 
and that it was the consequent duty of the Indian to kill the 
white man whenever and wherever he could. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



43 



Weymouth had been sent to this country by good men. They 
wished to establish colonies here, to introduce friendly relations 
with the Indians, their brother men ; to do them good in all 
respects, and to engage in traffic with them which should be 
mutually advantageous. And such were the astounding meas- 
ures which Weymouth pursued for the promotion of these 
objects. 

The lapse of a century could not efface from the minds of the 
Indians a sense of the outrage of which they had been the vic- 
tims. The story descended from father to son. Desire for ven- 
geance burned in the Indian's breast. The very name of English- 
men became hateful. The sight of an Englishman, with his long 
and glittering sword and his death-dealing bullet, appalled them. 
If Weymouth had intended to render all future friendly inter- 
course with the Indians impossible, he could not have adopted 
measures better adapted to accomplish his ends. 

To add to his infamy, he embarked in a boat, with a well- 
armed band, and ascended the river to the mouth of the Andros- 
coggin. There, with religious ceremonies, he planted the cross, 
the affecting emblem of Jesus Christ, — of that religion whose 
fundamental principle is that God is our common father, and all 
men are brothers. Thus he said to the Indian, " It is in the 
name of Jesus Christ that I have kidnapped your friends. It is 
Christianity which authorizes these deeds. Some of my coun- 
trymen will soon appear to teach you to embrace this religion." 

Weymouth now made preparations to return to England. 
Early in the morning of the 14th of June, just as the dawn was 
reddening the horizon over the headland of Arrowsic, he weighed 
anchor. The tide, but not the wind, was in his favor. Two 
boats ahead towed " The Archangel " down the stream until 
noon, when the anchor was again cast. The next day, the wind 
favoring, " The Archangel " ran back to her former anchorage. 
On Sunday, June 16, 1605, Weymouth, with his captives, spread 
his sails for England. 

There has been much discussion respecting the precise locality 
of these operations. The question will probably never be set- 
tled to the entire satisfaction of all the curious in antiquarian 
research. It is however safe to say, that it is not improbable 



44 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



that " The Archangel " entered its anchorage from Monhegan 
by Pemaquid Point between Liniken's Neck and Fisherman's 
Island. Anchor was then cast between this and Squirrel's 
Island. It was probably on the beach of this latter island, that 
the natives first appeared at their camp-fires. The two who 
were captured by violence were probably taken from the side 
of the cliff of Fisherman's Island. The Pentecost Harbor of 
Weymouth was the Townsend or Boothbay Harbor. This is 
situated between the Sheepscot and the Damariscotta Rivers. 1 

Weymouth on his homeward voyage, when about one hun- 
dred miles from land, found the water gradually shoaling. 
From one hundred fathoms it dwindled to twenty-four fathoms. 
One day he was becalmed. As his vessel rolled upon the 
mighty swells of the Atlantic, one of the sailors, Thomas King, 
cast out a hook. Almost instantly he drew up a very large fat 
codfish. Other hooks were cast out, and the fishes were taken 
almost as fast as the lines could be thrown and drawn. Thus 
those banks were discovered, swarming with the treasure of the 
deep, which have subsequently proved such a blessing to man- 
kind. Some time before this, continental fishermen had visited 
the coasts of Maine. 

1 Ancient Dominions of Maine, p. 73. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE EXPEDITION OF GOVERNOR GEORGE POPHAM. 

Fate of Weymouth's Captives — Formation of the Plymouth Company — Disas- 
trous Expeditions — Organization of Popham's Colony — First Sight of 
Land — Visit of the Indians — The Landing at Pemaquid — Suspicions of 
the Natives — First Religious Service in Maine — Unavailing Explorations — 
Ascending the Sagadahock — The Colony located — Search for the Penob- 
scot — Cruise through Casco Bay — Exploring the Androscoggin — Adven- 
tures with the Indians. 



PON the return of Weymouth to England, the report of 



his discoveries excited wide-spread and deep interest. It 
was indeed a glowing account which he could give ; for the sun 
shines not upon more lovely bays and islands, hills and vales, 
than Maine presents when reposing beneath the genial skies of 
June and July. No one seemed disposed to question him too 
closely respecting his mode of capture of the Indian nobles. 
They were all men well-formed, good-looking, and of much 
native dignity of demeanor. The interest they excited was 
universal ; and it is certain that some of them, if not all, were 
very kindly treated. 

Three of them were received into the family of Sir Ferdi- 
nando Gorges, immediately upon the arrival of the ship at 
Plymouth. Gorges, whose name subsequently obtained much 
renown, was governor of that important naval depot. He was 
a young man but thirty years of age, and his conduct develops 
a very noble and truly Christian character. Sympathizing 
deeply in the wrongs the captives had suffered, he did every 
thing in his power to convert their calamity into a blessing. 
The account which he gives of the character which these untu- 
tored savages developed, is interesting and valuable. He 
writes : — 




45 



46 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



11 After I had those people some time in my custody, I observed in them 
an inclination to follow the better sort. In all their carriages there were 
manifest shows of great civility, far from the rudeness of our common peo- 
ple. The longer I conversed with them, the better hope they gave me of 
those parts where they did inhabit, for our uses, especially when I learned 
what goodly rivers, stately islands, and safe harbors those parts abounded 
with. These Indians were all of one nation, but of several families. This 
accident must be acknowledged to be the means of God of putting on foot 
and giving life to all- our plantations." 1 

The names of these captives from the shores of Pemaquid 
were Nahanada, Skitwarroes, Assecomet, Tisquantum, and 
Dehamida. 2 The region which Weymouth had visited became 
a subject of all-absorbing interest in England. It was deemed 
the fairest clime in the New World, the most desirable spot for 
the location of colonies. It was said that nowhere on earth 
could be found more sunny skies, a more genial clime, or more 
fertile soil. The forests were of unspeakable grandeur, the 
water of crystal purity, and it was a luxury to breathe its salu- 
brious air. 

Speedily an association of English gentlemen was formed to 
plant colonies in this newly found Eden. The hypocrisy of the 
nominal Christian Weymouth, by no means proves that there 
might not be other true Christian men, influenced by principles 
of heartfelt piety. The religion which Jesus taught undeniably 
is, that, to please God, men must try to do every thing that is 
right, and to avoid every thing that is wrong. There were 
many English gentlemen of the highest worth, who desired to 
send the glad tidings of the gospel to these their benighted breth- 
ren in the wigwam and the forest. 

Several of these men associated themselves into a band called 
the Plymouth Company. They were intelligent and far-see- 
ing men, who believed that religion and civilization must go 
hand in hand. They would send to the shores of Pemaquid 
and the Sagadahock, the farmer, the carpenter, and the school- 
master, with the Bible, the Christian teacher, and the organized 
church. 

James I. made a grant to this company of all the territory 

1 See Drake's Book of the Indians, chap. ii. p. 2. 

2 Voyage of Weymouth, by John McKeen, Esq., p. 332. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



47 



between the thirty -fifth and the forty-fifth degrees of north lati- 
tude, including all the islands within one hundred miles of the 
coast. There was at the same time another company organized, 
called the Colony of Virginia. 

Both companies were united under the supervision of a 
committee of thirteen men residing in England. They were 
appointed by the crown, and took the name of the Council of 
Virginia. The government of each colony, or its interior 
affairs, was conducted by a council of thirteen select men 
residing in the colony. These rulers could coin money, import 
British goods free of duty, could lay taxes, and expel disorderly 
persons or intruders. 

Lord Popham and Sir Ferdinando Gorges were prominent 
members of the Plymouth Colony. The first effort which was 
made to colonize seems to have been very feeble. A large ship 
was provided and well supplied, but carrying only thirty-one 
men, including the crew. Henry Chalons was the captain. 
This was indeed a small number to establish a colony. Two of 
Weymouth's captives, Dehamaida and Assecomet, were also 
placed on board this ship, to be returned to their native land. 
The destination of the expedition was the mouth of the Saga- 
dahock. The ship sailed from Bristol in the year 1606, prob- 
ably in the month of May. 1 

England was then at war with Spain. The ship fell in with 
a Spanish fleet, and was captured. The Spaniards were in the 
habit of making slaves of the Indians as they could catch them. 
The ship, with all its inmates, was carried as a prize to Spain. 

The Plymouth Company, uninformed of the disaster which 
had befallen their ship, very soon sent out another, under 
Thomas Hanham. This ship bore a number of additional 
colonists with fresh supplies. It would seem that Hanham, 
upon reaching the Sagadahock, and hearing no tidings of Cha- 
lons, returned to England. " He did nothing more," writes 
Williamson, referring to the authority of Prince, " than to new- 
vamp and repeat the encouraging accounts of the country, and 
thereby enliven and perhaps invigorate the spirit of adventure." 

1 Strackey, the historian of the voyage, says May. Williamson, giving Prince's 
Annals as his authority, says August. 



48 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Lord John Popham, the most conspicuous member of the 
Plymouth Company, was chief justice of England, a man of 
wealth and of the highest rank. The next year, two vessels were 
fitted out to make another attempt to plant a colony at the 
mouth of the Sagadahock. One of these, called " The Gift of 
God," was commanded by George Popham, a brother of Lord 
Popham. Raleigh Gilbert, a nephew of Popham, was captain 
of the other, which was called "The Mary and John." One 
hundred and twenty "planters" were taken out in these ships, 
and a large supply of needful tools and provisions. There are 
some trivial diversities as to the details which are given of 
these operations. 

Gorges says that there were three ships in the expedition. 
Others say, that, in consequence of some disappointment, two 
only were equipped. The vessels sailed from Plymouth, the 
31st of May, 1607. Their course was directed to the island of 
Monhegan. The voyage was long but propitious. On the 
Banks they stopped to fish three hours. In that time they 
caught nearly two hundred large codfish, and said that they 
could have filled their ships in a very short time. 

About noon of the 31st of July they came in sight of 
some island on the coast of Maine, where they cast anchor. 
About two hours afterward a boat was seen approaching from 
the shore, containing eight Indian men and a boy. They were 
many leagues distant from Pemaquid. It is not probable that 
these Indians had heard of the kidnapping crimes of Wey- 
mouth. At first they were very unwilling to trust themselves 
on board. They rowed around the ships, gazed upon them with 
much curiosity, but kept at a safe distance. 

After this careful examination, they began to return towards 
the land. Soon they stopped, held a short consultation, and 
then, turning, slowly paddled back to the ship. Three of them 
ventured on board. The other six made for the shore, having 
by signs intimated that they would return the next day. The 
next day they came back, in another and larger boat, laden 
with beaver-skins. Several women were also on board. It 
would seem that Popham and Gilbert were very different men 
from Weymouth. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



49 



We infer from the brief narrative, that the natives were 
honorably treated, and the trade fairly conducted. It was a 
fraternal traffic. The ship's company was enriched by the 
furs ; and the natives retired delighted with they articles they 
had received in return. 

As the sun of. that blessed day was sinking in its serene 
glory, the moon rose full and unclouded in the east. The 
happy Indians returned to their lowly homes, rejoicing at the 
coming of the white men. The voyagers spread their sails, and, 
gliding over a moon-illuminated sea, cruised along the shore 
towards the south-west. The morning of the 3d of August, 
1607, dawned beautifully upon them. They were swept gently 
along through enchanting scenery of felands, bays, and forest- 
crowned cliffs, which it would seem that God's hand had 
fashioned for the abode of peace and happiness. 

The next morning they came to a headland, which they thus 
described : " The cape is low land, showing white, like sand. 
But yet it is all white rocks ; and a strong tide goeth in there." 

It is supposed that this promontory seen in the west was 
what is now called Cape Smallpoint, the extreme western 
terminus of the town of Phippsburg. This is one of the 
boundaries of Sagadahock Bay. The ebb and flow of the tides 
are here remarkably strong. They cast anchor under the lee of 
an island, a few miles east of the cape, and near Pemaquid. 1 

It appears from Strackey's narrative, that Skitwarroes, one of 
the Indians kidnapped by Weymouth, was on board " The Mary 
and John," to be returned to his friends. He was undoubtedly 
familiar with all the localities of this region. Capt. Gilbert 
manned a boat with fourteen men, and, taking Skitwarroes as a 
guide, rowed across the bay, ten or twelve miles, to Pemaquid. 
Skitwarroes conducted them to a village of Indian wigwams 
containing about a hundred men, women, and children. 

It will be remembered that two of Weymouth's captives, 
Nahanada and Assecomit, had been placed under the care of 
Capt. Chalons, to be restored to their native land. The ship 
was taken by the Spaniards, and they were carried to Spain. In 



4 



1 Ancient Dominions, p. 34. 



50 



TEE EI STORY OF MAINE. 



those days there were many private expeditions fitted out to 
the American coast for fishing and trading. In some unknown 
manner Nahanada had found his way back to his childhood's 
home. He was a chief of high rank, and chanced to be at that 
time in this little village. It is supposed that this was within 
the limits of the present town of Bristol. 

As soon as the Indians caught sight of the white men they 
were terror-stricken. The women and children shrieked and 
ran; the men seized their arms. The dispersion was like that 
caused by the leap of the wolf into the fold. The kidnapping 
Weymouth had taught them that the strangers were as much to 
be feared as demons from the world of woe. The terrified 
Indians did not recognize Skitwarroes in his European garb, 
and in the tumult did not distinguish his voice, calling out to 
them not to be alarmed. 

But Nahanada caught sight of his fellow-captive, and the two 
instantly recognized each other. The most impressible white 
men could not have manifested more joy than these two Indian 
chiefs displayed, in thus unexpectedly meeting again. They 
threw themselves into each other's arms, and the fabled stoicism 
of the Indian entirely disappeared. The influence of the two 
soon restored tranquillity. 

Both of these outraged chiefs had received in England the 
kindest treatment. They had fallen into the hands of true 
Christians, who fed them, clothed them, and instructed them. 
Every thing was done which could be done to repair the wrong 
which they endured. They had forgotten the crime of Wey- 
mouth in gratitude for the favors which had been lavished upon 
them in London. Thus the title of Englishmen became a pass- 
port to their hearts. 

Two happy hours were passed in the interchange of cordial 
greetings, and the reception by the strangers of such hospitali- 
ties as the Indians could furnish. The boat's crew then returned 
to the ship, and all hearts were serene and joyous. 

The next day was the sabbath. It was the 9th of August, 
1607. It was a memorable day ; for it was probably the first 
time since the world's creation that God, as revealed to us in 
the person of Jesus Christ his Son, was worshipped upon that 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



51 



portion of the globe's surface now called Maine. Gloriously 
that sabbath morning's sun rose over the magnificent expanse 
of islands, promontories, and bays of a yet unexplored world. 

Boats were manned from both of the ships, conveying a party 
of fifty men to the shore. They were all well armed. The 
point of land to which they directed their boats is supposed to 
have been what is now called Parker's Island ; though they soon 
after disembarked on Stage Island, but a short distance to the 
east. 1 At this point Weymouth had raised one of his crosses. 

When the natives saw so formidable an armed force approach- 
ing, their fears were very naturally again aroused. But two 
years had passed since Weymouth, with protestations of friend- 
ship and the foulest treachery, had torn five of their countrymen 
from their homes. Two only had returned. To what fate the 
other three had been doomed they knew not. 

Nahanada had also learned, during his residence in London, 
that nominal Christians might be the greatest villains in the 
world. His apprehensions were excited in seeing the boats 
approaching the shore, manned with bands so formidable in 
numbers and so thoroughly armed. It is intimated that Wey- 
mouth's crew outraged the wives and daughters of the Indians 
most infamously. In this hamlet of one hundred natives, there 
might have been twenty men, with bows and arrows only for 
their weapons, which were powerless against the bullets of the 
white men. The remainder were women, with little boys and 
young girls. 

Well might the Indians, after the experience they had passed 
through, recoil from such an irruption of British sailors into their 
wigwams. The boats were steered directly towards the little 
village. It appears that either the suspicions of Nahanada were 
excited, or that he wished to persuade the strangers to pursue 
a course less menacing in its aspect to his friends. He could 
speak and understand English perfectly well. 

Capts. Popham and Gilbert were both in the boats. As they 
neared the land, Nahanada came down upon the beach, and, hail- 
ing them, begged them not to come on shore in such strong 



1 Williamson, vol i. p. 198. 



52 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



military array, for the natives were greatly alarmed. The two 
captains seem to have been very judicious and excellent men. 
They were visiting the shore for divine worship. The crews 
were weary of the long voyage. The land, with its green 
mounds and cool springs and shady groves, seemed like an Eden 
in their view, as it was illumined with all the splendors of the 
early autumnal sun. It would have been a great and cruel 
disappointment to them to have been forbidden to land. 

The boatmen rested upon their oars, and an hour was spent 
in negotiations. Then it was agreed that the crew might land, 
but all the Indians prudently withdrew into the forest. Even 
Skitwarroes went with them. He might have feared that the 
sailors would be guilty of outrages which their captains could 
not restrain. Or it might have been his object to assure his 
friends that their alarm was groundless, and that these white 
men could be safely trusted. It would seem that Capt. Pop- 
ham's suspicions were now aroused. He knew not how numer- 
ous the Indians might be in that vicinity. The distrust 
shown by the natives, and their entire withdrawal, led him to 
fear that they might have gone for re-enforcements, and that a 
band of hundreds of warriors might come rushing upon him. 
He, however, ventured to land. Religious services were held 
beneath the cross which Weymouth had reared. Rev. Richard 
Seymour, the chaplain, preached the sermon. Thus it was an 
Episcopal clergyman from the shores of England, who first 
preached the gospel of the Son of God upon the shores of Maine. 
It was an occasion to have raised a man's soul. Deep must 
have been the emotions excited, as the melody of their hymns 
blended with the soft voice of the wavelets rippling upon the 
beach, and the pensive whisperings of the breeze through the 
fibrous-leaved pines. 

After this service Popham re-embarked his crews, and rowed 
to the other side of the water, where he encamped. Sewall 
thinks that this was probably the Boothbay shore, near Hodg- 
don's Mills. 1 But it is impossible to extricate the details which 
are given, from some entanglement. This might .have been a 



1 Ancient Dominions of Maine, p. 10. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



53 



prudential movement to guard against attack. It is, however, 
more probable that it was intended to relieve the natives from 
their painful apprehensions. Popham might have made the 
compromise with Nahanada, that he would land his crew for 
religious service only, beneath the cross of Weymouth, and that 
then they would retire. 

The whole of the 10th and 11th was spent at this encamp- 
ment, while a party explored the Damariscotta River in search 
of a suitable location for the establishment of their colony. In 
the evening of the 11th, the boats returned to the ships, which 
were still riding at anchor under what they called St. George's 
Island. 

The morning of the 12th, the ships weighed anchor, and set 
sail to enter the mouth of the Sagadahock. The next morning 
found them south of Seguin, at the distance of but three miles. 
There was a dead calm, and they could move in no direction. 
At midnight a fierce storm arose. " Off Seguin " is notoriously 
a rough point. The gale was blowing directly upon the shore. 
In the darkness of the night, amidst the roaring of the tempest 
and the dashing of the waves, they were in imminent peril of 
shipwreck. There was no anchorage there, and no harbor into 
which they could run. During the hours of this tempestuous 
night they stood off and on, momentarily fearing that they 
might be driven upon the rocks. The morning of the 14th 
dawned luridly upon a storm-tossed sea. With its earliest rays 
they looked for some spot where they .could thrust in the ships 
to save their lives. 

Putting up the helm, they stood in for the shore, where they 
soon saw two small islands. Under the shelter of one of them, 
perhaps at George's Island Harbor, they found good anchorage. 
The St. George's Islands consisted of a group of about twenty, 
many of them mere rocks. The storm ere long ceased, and the 
wind came in fair. A party took a boat, and cruised around 
among these islands. All were very rocky, and on most of 
them there was a dense growth of hemlock, spruce, firs, and 
pines. Upon one they found four natives, one of them being a 
woman. 

The next morning, the 15th, though the wind was rather 



51 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



unfavorable, " The Gift " worked its way into the mouth of the 
Sagadahock. A calm ensued. Capt. Popham sent his boats, 
and, aided by the tide, towed in " The Mary and John," and 
anchored her by the side of " The Gift." This occupied the 
day. 

The autumnal sun rose bright and clear the next morning, 
the 16th. Capt. Popham took thirty men in his pinnace, and 
Capt. Gilbert eighteen in his long-boat, and commenced row- 
ing up the stream, between the banks of the silent, solitary, 
beautiful Sagadahock. They ascended the deep and "gallant" 
river, as they termed it, far into the interior. They passed 
many goodly islands and branches of inlets and mouths of 
streams or bays opening into the river. In the evening the 
boats returned, having found no place for the establishment of 
the colony which they deemed more favorable than the one 
before them. 

Accordingly the next morning, the 18th of August, 1607, all 
went on shore to select a spot for their plantation, and to com- 
mence their works. The point chosen seems to have been near 
the mouth of Sagadahock, at the south-western extremity of the 
peninsula called Phipsburg. Williamson says — 

" The Indians called this promontory Sabino, from the chief whose 
authority was recognized there. They selected a pleasant and convenient 
site on the south-east side of a creek, near what is now called Atkins Bay; 
which stretches west into the land half a league, and forms a peninsula at 
the southerly corner of the present town of Phipsburg. ' ' 1 

The critical reader will perceive that the date of the landing 
here given differs from the dates in some other histories. The 
cause of this discrepancy probably is, that the landing at the dif- 
ferent points, to which we have alread}' alluded, has been con- 
founded with this final landing. The recently discovered man- 

1 Coolidge and Mansfield say, in their valuable History of New England, that 
some suppose that the landing \s-as made at Parker's Island, others at Arrowsic, 
and others at Georgetown, hut that the recent discovery of the MS. of William 
Strackey leaves scarcely room for doubt that they landed on the Phipsburg 
Peninsula. 

The narrative given in the text is doubtless the correct one. There were sev- 
eral landings, and the final one was on the peninsula. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



55 



uscript of William Strackey seems to render it almost certain 
that the chronology here given is correct. 1 

The settlement took the name of the Sagadahock Colony. 
The inauguration of the colony was solemnized by religious ser- 
vices. Rev. Richard Seymour, of whom we have before spoken, 
preached on the occasion. The promontory contained one or 
two hundred acres. The Plymouth Company had given sealed 
directions containing the general laws they wished to have 
established, and a list of the rulers t\\Qj had appointed to exe- 
cute them. This colony was organized under the influence of 
the British nobility. They were fully satisfied with the mon- 
archy of their native land. The idea of establishing a repub- 
lican government they had not even remotely cherished. The 
company represented the crown ; and all the laws were enacted, 
and the officers selected, by the company. Capt. George Pop- 
ham was appointed governor ; and seven men were designated 
as his assistants, with the several titles of admiral, master of 
ordnance, commander of the militia, marshal, commander of the 
fort, secretary of the colony, and searcher. 

While thus laying the foundations of their little settlement 
far away in the solitudes of a world as yet but little known 
and slightly explored, three canoes full of natives were seen on 
the distant waters. Cautiously the Indians gazed upon the 
strange spectacle thus opening before them, but they did not 
venture to draw nigh. They soon vigorously plied their pad- 
dles, and were lost to sight beyond the reaches of the river. 

All hands were now summoned to work. They commenced 
operations about the same time upon a fort, a large storehouse, 
several log-cabins, and a small vessel to cruise along the coast, 
and explore the rivers. The name of 44 Virginia " was given to 
this first vessel built upon the shores of Maine. Her size was 
thirty tons. The governor was invested with almost absolute 
power, and he superintended all the works. They called the 
fort St. George. The settlement also was frequently called by 
the same name. 

1 Messrs. Coolidge and Mansfield date the landing on the 8th ; Williamson 
places it on the 11th ; Varney, in his pleasaAt History of Maine for young people, 
places it on the 29th. But to my mind the evidence is conclusive that the land- 
ing was on the 18th, as given hy Sewall in his very accurate " Ancieni Domin- 
ions of Maine." 



56 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



On the 28th of the month Capt. Gilbert took a boat's 
crew, and set out on a voyage of discovery towards the west. 
He sailed through Casco Bay, admiring, as well he might, its 
cluster of beautiful islands, and anchored his shallop at night 
under a headland which the Indians called Semiamis, but 
which is now known as Cape Elizabeth. He inferred that the 
land must be very fertile, from the gigantic growth of trees 
which sprung from the soil. 

During the day several native canoes were seen; but the 
Indians carefully avoided approaching the shallop. They had 
doubtless heard of the treachery of Weymouth, and regarded 
the white man as a fiend, to be avoided and resisted at every 
hazard. After an uneventful cruise of three days, the shallop 
returned to Fort George, again traversing the beautiful Bay of 
Casco, and sailing by " many goodly and gallant islands." 

Had it not been for the crime of Weymouth, any number of 
Indians might have been hired to work upon the fort, to draw 
timber from the forest, and to aid with spade and hoe in break- 
ing up the ground for seed. A hatchet or a knife would repay 
an Indian amply for many days' labor. The French in Canada 
treated the Indians as brothers ; and they found no difficulty in 
securing their services to bear burdens, and to toil in the field 
and the ship-yard. But Weymouth's crime so appalled the 
Indians of Maine, that not one was willing to lift his hand to aid 
the white men. No smiles, no kind words, no hospitality, could 
efface the impression which the kidnapper had cut deep into 
their hearts. 

About noon of the 30th of August nine canoes, filled with 
forty Indians, were seen approaching the fort from Pemaquid, 
which was distant but a few leagues on the east. Several of 
these natives were women and children. Without any hesi- 
tancy, they paddled to the beach, and all landed. The mystery 
of this apparent boldness was soon explained. The little fleet 
was led by the Pemaquid chief Nahanada. He had also with 
him Skitwarroes, and another subordinate chief, Sasanoa. 

Gov. Popham received them with the greatest hospitality, 
and did every thing in his power to dispel their suspicions. 
The Indians remained for three hours ; but nothing could in- 



TEE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



57 



duce them to leave themselves in the power of such dangerous 
visitors through the night. As the sun was sinking behind the 
pine-crowned islands of Casco Bay, they nearly all entered 
their canoes, and paddled across the water to the eastern 
bank of the Sagadahock. Here they reared their frail shelters, 
built their fires, and encamped. 

Skitwarroes, and one or two other Indians, remained in the 
fort. Capt. Gilbert, to show the Indians that he reposed con- 
fidence in them, and perhaps emboldened by the conviction that 
there were two or three Indians in the fort, who would be held 
as hostages for his safe return, took a boat, and with two others 
of the governor's council, Robert Davis, commander of the 
militia, and Ellis Bert, marshal, rowed across the river, and 
passed the night in the native encampment. 

It was, however, very evident that the cautious Indians did 
not deem it safe to enter into any very intimate relations of 
friendship with the Englishmen. Early the next morning they 
all took to their canoes, and returned to Pemaquid. 

A week of energetic labor upon fort and dwellings passed 
away; and on the 8th of September Capt. Gilbert again took 
the shallop, and, with twenty-two men, set out on another 
exploring tour, toward the east in search of the Penobscot River. 
It would seem, so far as we can judge at this distance of time, 
that the affairs of this colony were conducted with a great want 
of wisdom. The location was on a sandbank, bleak and bar- 
ren, with no surrounding region of fertility. The experience of 
one winter led them to report, that " the country is intolerably 
cold and sterile, unhealthy, and not habitable by our English 
nation." 1 It is difficult to imagine what object they could have 
had in sending off these exploring expeditions, when, having 
selected the location of their colony, they needed the energies 
of every man in rearing their buildings, cutting and housing 
wood for the winter, and in breaking the hard soil in preparation 
for putting in seed in the spring. 

The explorers in the shallop were retarded by calms and 
head winds, and did not reach Pemaquid until early in the 



1 Prince's Annals, p. 35. 



58 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



morning of the 11th of September. They found the Indian 
village entirely deserted, and nothing remained but silence and 
solitude. It is probable that the natives who had visited Fort 
George were alarmed by the fortifications which were rising 
there, so massive in their eyes, and by the other indications 
of a strong and permanent settlement. They deemed it safe to 
retire back into the country, that they might be at a greater 
remove from neighbors whom they deemed so dangerous. 

For several days the voyagers cruised along, exploring many 
bays and inlets of this wonderfully indented coast, but search- 
ing in vain for the mouth of the Penobscot. They did not 
return from their fruitless expedition until about the 20th. 
On the 23d Capt. Gilbert again embarked in the shallop, tak- 
ing with him nineteen men to ascend the Sagadahock to Merry- 
meeting Bay, and thence to explore the Kennebec to its 
navisrable source. 

The party reached the bay on the 24th, and turning to the left, 
instead of the right, entered the Androscoggin River, instead of 
the Kennebec. Early the next morning they reached the falls 
at Brunswick. Their description of the country, and of the 
low flat island about a quarter of a mile below the falls, can- 
not be mistaken. The falls then consisted mainly of a series 
of rapids, through which, by aid of a strong rope, they with 
difficulty drew their boat. Rowing up the river about three 
miles beyond these rapids, they landed, and camped for the 
night. 

As they were constructing their camp, and kindling their fire, 
they heard the shouts of Indians on the opposite bank of the 
river. The Englishmen responded ; but the shouts on both 
sides were alike unintelligible. The next morning a canoe 
crossed the river, bearing an Indian chief by the name of 
Sebenoa, and four natives. The chief was a friendly, cour- 
teous man, but deemed it necessary to guard against treachery. 
He would not land, and thus place himself in the power of the 
strangers, until they placed one of their men in his canoe as a 
hostage. 

The report which is given of the subsequent conduct of the 
Indians, if we credit it precisely as given, is utterly incompre- 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



59 



hensible. It would seem that there must have been some great 
misunderstanding on the part of the English in their interpreta- 
tion of facts which are unquestionable. If the report of the 
historian is to be accepted as accurate in all its bearings, it 
would prove that the Indians behaved like idiots, — a character 
which they never developed before. 

As soon as the hostage was received into the canoe, and 
Sebenoa the chief, had by invitation taken a seat in the shallop, 
where, it will be remembered, he was surrounded by nineteen 
white men, the four Indians began to paddle very rapidly up the 
river. The annalist assumes that they treacherously were mak- 
ing an effort to run away with the hostage as their captive. 

The supposition is absurd. The Indians surely would not 
surrender their chief in exchange for a common man. The 
chief himself would not consent to so silly a sacrifice. Neither 
could four men hope to escape from the pursuit of nineteen, 
whose guns could throw the death-dealing bullet so great a 
distance. The tidings of the power of the white man's musket 
had spread far and wide among the tribes. 

Unquestionably the chief had invited the white men to visit 
his encampment. As they could converse only by signs, his 
invitation had not been understood by Capt. Gilbert. But the 
Indians supposed that it was understood and accepted. Imme- 
diately upon the friendly exchange having been made, the white 
man being in the canoe, and the chief in the shallop, the In- 
dians commenced paddling up the river toward their village. 
The birch canoe, light as a bubble, was driven with great rapid- 
ity over the waters. It was with difficulty that the heavily 
laden shallop could keep up with it. 

We are informed that great care was taken that the hostage 
chief should not leap overboard ; but there is no intimation that 
he made any such senseless attempt. What could one poor 
man do, struggling in the water, with nineteen men at hand to 
brain him with their oars ? Escape under those circumstances 
was impossible. 

Apparently Sebenoa sat in the shallop with tranquil mind, 
entirely unconscious of the alarm which his hospitable invita- 
tion had given. The canoe led the way. A few rods behind 



60 THE I1ISTORY OF MAINE. 

came the shallop. Having ascended the river about three 
miles, the canoe landed. The four Indians, with their one 
white companion, entered a trail which led back to their village. 

Capt. Gilbert hurriedly ran his boat upon the shore. Leav- 
ing nine men to guard the shallop, he took the Other nine with 
him, and followed rapidly along the trail to rescue the man 
whom he supposed the Indians had kidnapped. Sebanoa min- 
gled with them, giving no sign that he suspected that he was 
watched, or that he was thought to be practising treachery. 
The well-trodden, narrow path led picturesquely around the 
forest-crowned hills of the Androscoggin, for a distance of 
about a league. Here they came upon the little hamlet of the 
chief. The white hostage was there unharmed. The whole 
village was, of course, thrown into great commotion by so sin- 
gular an event. The historian writes : — 

" Here we found near fifty able men, very strong and tall : such as their 
like before we had not seen. All were newly painted, and armed with bows 
arrows." 

As there were fifty warriors, the village must have contained 
about two hundred and fifty inhabitants. They could not have 
been armed in anticipation of this visit ; for they had no more 
reason to expect it, than they had to think that angels would 
descend among them from heaven. They had made no collec- 
tion of furs for trade ; for the idea of such a chance for trade 
had not entered their minds. 

But here were nine men, three miles from their boat, surrounded 
by fifty well-armed and very powerful warriors. If treachery had 
been intended, nothing could have been more easy than to cut 
them off. They had no longer any hostage ; for Sebenoa was in 
his own home, and at the head of his band. There were many 
opportunities for lying in ambush among the rocks and forest- 
trees and thickets which fringed the narrow trail. Thus every 
white man could have been pierced with arrows, with scarcely 
the opportunity to make any resistance. And yet not one of 
these " very strong, tall savages " gave the slightest indication 
of hostility. There was not a frown seen, not a menacing word 
h^ard, not an arrow was placed upon the bowstring. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



61 



On the contrary, the reception was hospitable in all respects. 
We are told that " peaceful overtures prevailed, and proposals 
for trade were made." After a brief visit, the whole party 
returned to the boat. Not the slightest attempt was discovered 
to molest the strangers, as in single file they threaded the narrow 
pass, where the Indians, outnumbering them five to one, could 
so easily in ambush, with one volley of their arrows, have struck 
every man down. 

A few moments after reaching the shallop, sixteen of the 
natives appeared, apparently lured by curiosity to see them off. 
We are simply informed that they were " natives ; " and it is rea- 
sonable to infer that they were men, women, and children. 
It is very certain, that, if there had been any hostile intent, 
fifty warriors would never have deputed sixteen of their num- 
ber to attack a band of nine white men, while the remainder 
lounged indolently in their wigwams within half an hour's 
distance of the scene of conflict. 

The treachery of the white man had become proverbial. 
The crime of Weymouth had infused suspicion into the mind 
of every Indian. Fire-arms had then been but recently in- 
vented. The musket which the white man bore was the an- 
cient matchlock. It was a clumsy weapon, and rested upon a 
support. It could only be discharged by applying a match or 
torch to the touchhole. Just as the boat was leaving the shore 
where the camp-fire was burning, one of the men lighted a 
torch to fire the guns. 

An Indian standing by, undoubtedly feared that it was the 
intention of the boatmen, as soon as they were at a little dis- 
tance from the shore, to fire upon the group left behind. The 
lighting of the match, under those circumstances, was a men- 
ace, a hostile act. What other possible motive could there be 
for thus making ready to fire their guns ? Upon the impulse 
of the moment, he sprang towards the shallop, seized the 
lighted match, and thew it into the water. The crew instantly 
grasped their guns ; and a man, at the command of Gilbert, 
leaped on shore to get more fire. Thus suddenly did a war 
tempest seem to burst upon the band. The terrified Indians, 
now convinced that hostilities were threatened, seized the rope 



62 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



of the boat, and tried to prevent its putting off. But as the 
men presented their muskets, ready to apply the glowing torch, 
they dropped the rope, and the whole company fled precipitately 
into the forest. As they fled, not a single arrow was thrown 
back. 

This was indeed an untoward termination of Gilbert's visit 
to Sebenoa. The shallop immediately withdrew to the opposite 
side of the river. In this misadventure the natives certainly 
appear to great advantage. It is recorded, — 

" A canoe followed to excuse the hostile bearing of the natives. Gilbert 
kindly entertained the messages of peace, but made the best of his way 
back to the settlement and the fort. ' ' 

These events took place on the 26th of September, 1607. 
Capt. Gilbert expresses his admiration of the magnificent 
spruce-trees he passed on the way, suitable " to mast the great- 
est ship his majesty hath." Clusters of ripe grapes hung upon 
the vines which festooned the trees, and the waters seemed to 
abound in fishes of great variety. The next day, in a dismal 
storm of rain and fog, the shallop returned to Fort George. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE FAILURE OF POPHAM's COLONY, AND ITS ATTENDANT 

RESULTS. 

Indian Etiquette — Virtues of the Indians — Scenes in the Colony — Pophani's 
Death — Ruin in the Colony — Atrocious Cruelty — Revenge of the Indians — 
The Explosion — Fears of the Indians — The Colony Abandoned — Private 
Adventures — Infamy of Poutrincourt — The Scenery of Mount Desert — Mon- 
hegan in its Glory — Harlow the Kidnapper — Valor of the Indians — Fate of 
the French Colonies — Adventures of Epenow — His Escape — The Battle on 
Martha's Vineyard. 



WEEK passed away. On the 3d of October, Skitwarroes 



came to the fort in a canoe, with two or three other 
Indians. The native princes seem to have had their rules of 
courtly etiquette, quite as distinctly denned as those which pre- 
vail at Windsor Castle or Versailles. It would seem that there 
were, in that region, several tribes under one head chief, who 
was recognized as supreme, and was called Bashaba. 

Skitwarroes and his companions had come as envoys from the 
Bashaba, to inform Gov. Popham that their sovereign had 
sent his brother (Williamson says his son) as an ambassador to 
visit the chieftain of the white men, and that he was on the 
other side of the river, awaiting the white chieftain's pleasure. 
The envoy was immediately invited over, and was received with 
the distinction due to one of his rank. He spent the sabbath 
at the fort, and with his retinue attended public worship, both 
morning and evening. It is recorded that they all conducted 
reverentially, and with much decorum. 

The object of this mission was to establish friendly relations 
with the new-comers, and to open a trade which might be 
exceedingly beneficial to both parties. It would seem that 
Nahanada and Skitwarroes had made such representations to 




63 



64 THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 

the Bashaba, that he generously overlooked the infamous con- 
duct of Weymouth, and presented the hand of reconciliation 
and friendship to these new-comers. Every historian has ad- 
mitted that the conduct of the Indians in this respect was very 
noble. There is no authentic record, thus far, of any act of 
treachery, violence, or deceit on their part. The Indian wars, 
which eventually ensued, were the undeniable result of outrages 
inflicted by individual white men, who were beyond the re- 
straints of law, and who, in utter godlessness, had no more 
regard to future retribution than had the wolves and the bears. 
The Indians were honest in their dealings, and manifested 
much gratitude for any favor conferred upon them. 

On one occasion a straw hat and a knife were given to an 
Indian, by the name of Ameriguin, as a present. He immedi- 
ately, in return, presented the giver with a rich beaver mantle, 
which was then worth from ten to fifteen dollars in London. 

The works in the settlement were driven so vigorously, and 
the style of architecture was so simple, that by the 6th of 
October, only seven weeks from the time of landing, the fort 
was completed, intrenched, and twelve cannon were mounted. 
The storehouse was also finished, and fifty log-cabins were 
reared. With such imposing ceremonies as the occasion could 
furnish, the town was named St. George. 1 

Winter came early, and with unusual severity. Storms of 
sleet and snow swept the bleak expanse which had been so 
unwisely selected for their home. Discontent arose, and, with 
the discontent, quarrels among the colonists. Many cursed the 
day in which they left their cottages in England, for abodes so 
chill and drear and comfortless. They had made no suitable 
preparation for winter. They had only green wood to burn. 
Their cabins were frail, and filled with smoke. 

It was a miserable winter to all. With wise foresight, and a 
Christian spirit, the months of snow and wind and rain might 
have passed even agreeably away. Their cabins might have 
been warm and cheerful. Wood was abundant. They could 
have laid in ample stores, and quite well seasoned. An abun- 
dant supply of furs could have been obtained of the Indians for 



1 Bancroft, vol. i. p. 268. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



65 



clothing and bedding, and couches around the brightly blazing 
fireside. The Indians wished to be friendly. They would 
gladly have brought in stores of corn and fish and game, had 
they been kindly treated. But sin reigned in the camp ; and 
where there is sin there must be sorrow. 

Gov. Popham died. It was, perhaps, fortunate for him. 
His heart would have broken, could he have lived to witness the 
ruin of his colony. As the world was receding from his view, 
and the sublimities of eternity opening before him, he said, 
cheered by the hope that he had planted a colony which would 
last while time endures, — 

" I die content. My name will be always associated with the first 
planting of the English race in the New World. My remains will not be 
neglected away from the home of my fathers and my kindred. ' ' 

His expectations were not realized. His colony perished. 
No friendly hand conveyed his remains to England, that they 
might repose amidst the graves of his fathers. No monument 
has ever been reared to his memory. We now search in vain 
for the spot, amidst the sands of the ocean shore, where his 
body awaits that judgment trump at whose peal the dead shall 
rise. The wail of the tempest, and the dash of the surge, have 
been for two hundred years his mournful requiem. 

There was no one left in the colony capable of filling the 
place of Popham. His death was followed by that of three 
other of the most prominent men. Comparative anarchy 
reigned. The Indians were grossly and wantonly maltreated. 
They have not been able to tell their own story ; but the 
records of the white man's historians testify fully to this fact. 
The colonists seem to have been selected, or accepted, without 
any reference to moral character. In those days, there prob- 
ably could not have been found on earth a more fiendlike set 
of men than the average crew of a British man-of-war. Ap- 
parently many of the colonists were reckless seamen, picked 
up from the wharves of the seaports of England. One of their 
outrages would seem incredible ; but we know not that the story 
has ever been contradicted. 

It is said that a large number of natives landed on one occa- 

5 



06 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



sion, at the little settlement, with a few furs and skins for sale. 
They wandered peacefully around, gazing with much interest 
upon the new objects which everywhere met their eves. They 
were new-comers from the interior, and every thing was strange 
to them. Some of the men thought they would amuse them- 
selves in seeing how the Indians would be astonished and terri- 
fied at the report of one of their cannons. They loaded one of 
the largest almost to the muzzle, but with powder only. They 
attached two drag-ropes to the heavy gun, and requested the 
Indians, as a favor, to help them draw the ponderous weapon 
from one part of the grounds to another. 

Joyously, with shouts and merriment, the obliging natives 
manned the two ropes, in lines directly before the muzzle of 
the gun. As they were rushing it along, one of these colonists 
applied the match to the touch-hole. A terrible explosion, 
with lightning flash and thunder peal, took place. Several of 
the natives were killed outright ; others were horribly burned 
and mangled. 

The survivors returned to their homes, scattering in all di- 
rections the story of the horrible outrage. This was a fitting 
sequel to the kidnapping crimes of Weymouth. It is not 
strange that the heathen Indians should have thought that the 
Christian white men were fiends. Universal indignation was 
excited. The Indians met in large numbers, resolved to exter- 
minate the colonists who had thus brought blood and misery 
and death to their lowly homes. They made an attack — the 
" treacherous Indians," as they were called — upon the settle- 
ment. They captured the storehouse which contained all the 
merchandise and provisions of the colony. 

They drove the garrison, which was greatly diminished by 
sickness and death, out of the fort. One man was killed : the 
others took refuge in a sort of citadel at some distance from the 
magazine. As the ignorant Indians were rioting through the 
captured fort, they knocked open some barrels containing some 
kind of grain, of small, dark kernels, such as they had never 
seen before. It was not corn ; it was not wild wheat, nor rye. 
It was powder. The grains were scattered over the floor. Ac- 
cidentally they were ignited. A terrific explosion of the whole 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



61 



magazine ensued. It was a phenomenon of thunder roar, and 
of volcanic ruin, which would have appalled any community. 
Timbers, cannons, merchandise, and the mangled bodies of the 
Indians, were blown high, into the air, but to fall back into a 
crater of devouring flame. 

The ignorant, superstitious Indians were appalled beyond 
all conception by this carnage. Had fiends come to the aid of 
their brethren the white men ? Was the Great Spirit angry 
with the Indians for their attack upon the colony ? and had he, 
in consequence, sent this terrible punishment upon them ? They 
were bewildered, terrified. 

They had not been struck down by bullet or arrow or club. 
It was a supernatural, miraculous power, which had assailed 
them. They had conquered the white man ; and then this new, 
invisible, resistless ally had overwhelmed them with destruction. 
They could not contend against thunderbolts, and upheaving 
earthquakes, and bursting flames. It mattered not to them, 
whether these tremendous energies were wielded by bad spirits 
or good : their only safety was in immediate flight. They took 
to their canoes, and paddled swiftly from the settlement, with 
no disposition to approach it again. 

Such is the story which has descended to us. It may not be 
true in all its details. It unquestionably is true in its essential 
features. We have found no historian who discredits it. " It 
is certain," Williamson says, " that it was believed to be true 
by the ancient and well-informed inhabitants on Sagadahock 
River." 1 

The colonists, who had thus sown the wind, were now, in 
the righteous judgment of God, reaping the whirlwind. There 
were, doubtless, good men among them, men of philanthropy 
and piety, who mourned and wept over these calamities. But 
sin is a far more potent agent of action than holiness. A few 
drops of poison will destroy the most vigorous frame. The life 
which God's love has gradually developed through the long 
years of infancy, childhood, and youth, to mature manhood, the 
dagger of the assassin may destroy in an instant. The city 
which the industry of a century has reared, the torch of the 
incendiary may lay in ashes in a few hours. 

i See Supplement to King Philip's War, 1675, p. 75. 



08 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



There may have been even a majority of the colonists good 
men. But, were one-third of their number thoroughly bad, they 
could have thwarted all the measures of the good. They could 
cheat the Indians, rob them, shoot them, insult their wives and 
daughters, and thus inflict an amount of injury which all the 
efforts of the true Christians could not repair. One kidnapping 
Wej^mouth can arouse an hostility which many honest voyagers 
may vainly endeavor to appease. 

The colonists were now freezing, starving, and quarrelling 
among themselves. In those dreary log-cabins there was no 
happiness. Frowns were upon every brow, murmurs upon all 
lips, gloom in every heart. It is to be inferred from the brief 
narrative we have, that the two vessels which had conveyed the 
colonists to the Sagadahock had returned to England. These 
ships could have carried back only the tidings of the successful 
landing of the colony. The Plymouth Company promptly fitted 
out another ship, with supplies. Early in the spring this ship 
cast anchor before the already dilapidated, impoverished, decay- 
ing town of St. George. The colonists, instead of landing the 
supplies, rushed on board the ship, determined with one accord 
to return to England. 

The Indians, bitterly hostile, could not be induced to venture 
into their settlement with any provisions. It was only at the 
imminent peril of their lives that the English could leave their 
rampart of logs, to penetrate the interior on foraging expedi- 
tions. Their storehouse was burned. They had no articles 
left for traffic. Whatever they obtained they would be com- 
pelled to grasp with robber hands. 

Thus influenced, they all abandoned the colony. Their 
return to England excited the surprise and the deep regret of 
the Plymouth Company. They carried back the most deplora- 
ble report of the character of the country, its climate, its soil, 
and especially of its inhabitants. " The native Indians," they 
said, " are the outcasts of creation. They have no religion, but 
are merely diabolical. They are the very ruins of mankind ; 
the most sordid and contemptible part of the human species." 

On the other hand, the French, who, not many years after, 
established a settlement among the Indians of the upper Ken- 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



69 



nebec, and who lived with them not only on terms of peace, 
but of strong personal friendship, wrote of them, — 

" The Indians are docile and friendly, accessible to the precepts of 
religion, strong in their attachment to their friends, and submissive to the 
rites and ceremonies of the Catholic faith." 1 

The disastrous issue of this attempt to establish a settlement 
in Maine checked the spirit of colonization for several years. 
There were still many private expeditions to these waters for 
the benefits of the fishery, and to purchase furs of the natives 
along the coast. Lord Popham, the most prominent member 
of the Plymouth Company, died ; but his son, Sir Francis 
Popham, for several years sent a ship annually to the coast 
of Maine, for fishing and traffic. He, however, was not suc- 
cessful, and at length abandoned such operations. But it is 
confidently asserted that other adventurers were frequently 
visiting the coast, though no record was made of these private 
voyages. 2 

The French were in Canada prosecuting a very successful fur- 
trade with the Indians. There was a strange sort of telegraphy 
by which the Indians conveyed tidings of important events to 
the remotest tribes. Unquestionably the Indians of Massachu- 
setts had heard accounts of the conduct of the English in 
Maine. 

A Frenchman, by the name of Poutrincourt, was in command 
of the French trading post and mission at Port Royal, now 
Annapolis, Nova Scotia. It must be remembered that at that 
time there were no distinct territorial lines drawn. The whole 
of this region was called Acadia. Poutrincourt seems to have 
been a very reckless, passionate man, with but little regard for 
Christian principle. He quarrelled with his clergy, and said 
fiercely to them, " It is my part to rule you while on earth, and 
it is your part to guide me to heaven." 

The clergy had a difficult part, in this respect, to perform, if 
all reports are true respecting the conduct and character of 
Poutrincourt. He went on an exploring and trading tour, along 

1 History of Norridgewock, by William Allen, p. 12. 

2 Hubbard's New England, p. 37; Prince's Annals, p. 25. 



70 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



the coasts of what are now Maine and Massachusetts, as far 
south as Cape Cod. There he fell into an altercation and a 
fight with the natives. We know not who was the aggressor, 
or what was the cause of the conflict. Poutrincourt does not 
inform us, and the Indians had no one to tell their story. Two 
of the Frenchmen were killed, and others wounded. What 
slaughter was inflicted upon the Indians we know not. Pou- 
trincourt continued his cruise several leagues farther, until he 
cast anchor where the natives had not heard of his battle with 
the Indians. Five of these innocent, unoffending men came 
confidingly on board his vessel, and offered some furs for sale. 
He seized them, and put them all to death, probably hanging 
them at the yard-arm. This was his retaliation. There is 
implanted in the bosom of most men a sense of justice, which 
leads them, in view of such crimes, to find some degree of com- 
fort in the thought, that there is a day of judgment to come, 
and that the wicked shall not go unpunished. It is recorded 
that this circumstance led Poutrincourt to form a very unfavor- 
able opinion of the disposition of the Indians. 

After such an occurrence it is not strange, that when, a few 
years later, our Pilgrim Fathers landed upon Cape Cod, they 
should have been attacked b}- the natives. 1 It is thus that one 
bad man can inflict an amount of injury which many good men 
cannot repair. Poutrincourt returned to Port Royal, where he 
and his companions lived in such revelry, probably outraging 
the Indians in various ways, that the clergy, who were sincerely 
devoted to the welfare of the natives, refused to remain in the 
settlement. Biencourt, the son of Poutrincourt, was even worse 
than his father. Ruling in the place of his father, who had 
gone to England, his conduct was infamous. Annoyed by the 
rebukes and remonstrances of the missionaries, he threatened 
them with corporal punishment. They abandoned Port Royal, 
and removed to Mount Desert, where they were received by the 
natives as friends and brothers. The names of these two good 
men, Messrs. Biard and Masse, deserve to be perpetuated. 2 

Mount Desert is the largest, and certainly the most beautiful 

1 See narrative of the first encounter in the Life of Miles Standish. 

2 Band's Kelation, L'Escarbot's Histoire, Charlevoix's Histoire. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



71 



island on the coast of Maine. It has, indeed, but few rivals on 
this globe. The island is fifteen miles long, and seven miles in 
average breadth, containing sixty thousand acres. The scenery 
is surpassingly beautiful. The towering mountains of the 
interior raise their forest-crowned brows so high, that they can 
be discerned at the distance of sixty miles at sea. Separated 
from the main land but by narrow serpentine creeks, which 
were sheltered from winds and waves, and were abounding with 
fin and shell fish, it had been, for centuries which no man can 
, count, a favorite resort for the Indians. 

The sublimity and loveliness of the scenery pleased the eye 
of the natives. Here they reared their comfortable cabins, and 
lined them with furs. Wood was abundant for their winter 
fires. There was a great amount of game in the mountains, 
consisting of bears, raccoons, foxes, rabbits, and fowls of various 
kinds. The marshes and meadows were stocked with beaver, 
otter, and musquash. The sunny valleys, walled in by moun- 
tains and forests, were rich in verdure, and blooming with 
flowers. They often waved with harvests of golden corn. Over 
the placid waters of numerous creeks and inlets and bays, the 
buoyant canoe of the native could glide in perfect safety. 
There were many lakelets open to the sea, to which the ale- 
wives in the spring resorted in enormous numbers, to deposit 
their spawn. It has been well said, — 

" Mount Desert is remarkable for its size, its singular topography, its bold 
and wild scenery, and still more for its wilder and stranger history. Who- 
ever visits it, if he is familiar with its earliest records and legends, will, as 
he sits upon some bold pinnacle of its mountains, and glances over its sea- 
cradled islands, its sun-burnished creeks, its mountain lakes, and its Alp- 
like ravines, almost expect to see the savage emerge from some glen, or to 
see, lying at anchor, the rude shallop of two hundred years ago ; or, stranger 
still, to behold some wanderer from England, France, or Spain, in the habil- 
rments of his time, with steeple hat, peaked beard, slashed doublet, and 
sword by his side, climbing the sea wall thrown up by the ocean, to seek his 
rude cabin on the shore. ' ' 1 

There is a large cluster of islands, here, separated but by 
narrow channels, the intricacy of whose waters it would be 

1 History of Xew England, by Coolidge and Mansfield. 



72 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



difficult to describe. These islands, Great Cranberry, Little 
Cranberry, Lancaster, and Duck, contain from fifty to six hun- 
dred acres each. Several families now reside upon them. Be- 
tween Great Cranberry and Lancaster Islands there is a fine 
harbor called The Pool, which affords excellent anchorage. 
Here, it is supposed, Messrs. Biard and Masse located themselves 
in the year 1609. The ruins of an old settlement at this place 
are still visible. 1 In the solitudes of this profound wilderness, 
those self-denying men reared their lowly huts, cultivated their 
little garden, and, uncheered by the presence of wife or child, 
living upon Indian fare, and conforming to Indian customs, 
labored with untiring zeal for five years, to instruct the Indians, 
and to lead them to the Lamb of God which taketh away the 
sins of the world. These men were Christians. It matters not 
to what denomination they belonged. " By their fruits shall 
ye know them." 

The disastrous result of Popham's colony seemed, for a time, 
almost entirely to extinguish the desire to form settlements in 
this part of the New World. But Sir Ferdinando Gorges soon 
recovered from the blow. Probably his investigations convinced 
him that the failure was entirely owing to the folly of the 
colonists, and that Maine was a goodly land, }*et destined to be 
the abode of wealth and culture. He wrote, — 

" As to the coldness of the climate, I have had too much experience in 
the world, to be frightened with such a blast. Many great kingdoms and 
large territories more northerly seated, and by many degrees colder, are 
plentifully inhabited; divers of them being stored with no better commodi- 
ties than these parts afford, if like industry, art, and labor be used." 2 

Gorges purchased a ship, employed Richard Vines as captain, 
but sought in vain for colonists. The region was now in such 
bad repute that none wished to seek in it a new home. There 
was much solicitude in the English court, lest the enterprising 
French should plant their settlements along the coast, and 
obtain the entire control of the country. Their colony at Port 

1 Williamson, vol. i. p. 79. The Cranberry Islands were so called because 
those berries were so abundant there. Duck Island swarmed with those buds. 

2 Gorges' Narrative, p. 22. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



73 



Royal was for a time quite successful. The colonists were 
carrying on a very profitable trade with the Indians in furs, 
and were supplied by them with an abundance of corn and 
venison. 

Gorges seems to have found but little difficulty in hiring 
men as sailors, to visit the coast for the purposes of fishing, and 
purchasing furs of the natives. Many such voyages were made 
by the agents of Gorges and others. Some of these enterprises 
proved very successful. These adventurers, the common 
sailors, were generally rude, unprincipled men, more brutal far 
than the natives whom they contemptuously called savages. 

Monhegan became the prominent point for traffic on the 
coast of Maine. At this island the vessels first made the 
land. Here they cast anchor, and established their rendezvous. 
In the quaint language of the times, this was described as, — 

" The remarkablest isle and mountains for landmarks, a round high isle, 
with little Monas by its side, betwixt which is a small harbor, where our 
ships can lie at anchor. ' ' 

A man by the name of Abraham Jennings claimed to have 
purchased this island of some Indians. It is not probable that 
his title-deed would bear any very close investigation. He 
was a fish-merchant from Plymouth, Eng., and was in partner- 
ship with Abner Jennings of London. They had opened quite 
a lucrative trade in this coast, employing many vessels 
annually in cod-fisheries and the purchase of furs. These men 
had stations on the neighboring mainland of Pernaquid, and 
probably also on some of the islands which encircle and thus 
create Boothbay Harbor. 

These stations amounted merely to points which they period- 
ically visited in the summer months, to dry their fish, and to 
trade with the Indians. Thus Monhegan became not only 
the prominent landmark for voyagers, but the important depot 
for all the fishing and trading vessels. 

In the year 1611 Samuel Argal, who subsequently became 
governor of South Virginia, while on a voyage to that colony 
was driven, by a series of gales, far away to the north. Find- 
ing himself near the coast of Maine, he decided to visit the 



74 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



fishing-grounds of Monhegan, of which he had heard much. 
He first made the land in the vicinity of Penobscot Bay : there 
he found a small island so abounding in seals that he called it 
Seal Rock. This name it still retains. He was in the vicinity 
of Mount Desert. We know but little more respecting this 
voyage ; but the familiarity he thus gained with these waters 
enabled him, three years later, successfully to prosecute one of 
the most important expeditions of the times, whatever may be 
the verdict as to its justification. We shall soon allude to this 
enterprise. 

About the same time Capt. Edward Harlow was sent to 
explore Cape Cod and its surroundings. He directed his course 
first to Monhegan, and took shelter in its snug harbor. The 
natives were now in the habit of visiting the island in large 
numbers, eager to traffic with the newly-arrived ships. This 
man, without any provocation whatever, villanously enticed 
three Indians on board his ship, and seized them as captives. 
One of the three, Peckmo, being a very strong man, after a 
desperate struggle broke away, and, plunging overboard, swam 
to the shore. 

Immediately he aroused all the Indians around to the rescue. 
The valiant men, with arrows alone for their weapons, put off 
in their canoes to rescue their friends thus treacherously im- 
prisoned in the oak-ribbed ship. Their heroic efforts were, of 
course, unavailing. The long-boat of the ship was floating at 
its stern. The Indians, sweeping the deck with a shower of 
arrows, succeeded in cutting away the boat, and carrying it 
ashore. As they knew that Harlow would make an effort to 
recover it, they filled it with sand, having placed it in a position 
where with their arrows they could defend its approaches. 

Harlow sent an armed band on shore to recover the boat. 
The exasperated natives fought with desperation. We know 
not how many Harlow succeeded in killing ; but we are happy 
to know that the natives drove Harlow off without his boat. 
In this conflict, so disgraceful to Harlow, three of his men were 
sorely wounded. The kidnapper, however, carried off two of 
his captives, Monopeo and Peckenine. Then, spreading his sails 
for Cape Cod, the miscreant repeated the crime there. Three 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



75 



unoffending Indians, who had come from a distance to the 
anchorage, were lured to ascend his deck, with offers of traffic. 
The unsuspecting victims were enticed into the cabin, and the 
oaken doors were locked against them. Escape was as impossi- 
ble as from the stone and iron dungeons of the Tower. These 
three unhappy victims of villany were called Sackaweston, 
Coneconum, and Epenow. 

All five were carried to London. Harlow exhibited Epenow 
as a show, as if he had been a monkey or a gorilla. The Cape 
Cod Indians and the natives from Monhegan, with abodes so 
widely apart, could not understand each other's language. 
Upon their arrival in England they were distributed in dif- 
ferent places. Some of them found Christian friends who 
sympathized deeply with them in their wrongs. Sir Ferdinando 
Gorges interested himself in their welfare. He rescued Assa- 
comet, one of the victims of Weymouth's perfidy, who had then 
been seven years in England ; and it would seem that he 
and Epenow were both taken under his protection. 1 

According to the narrative which has descended to us, 
Epenow was a very shrewd man. Perceiving in what high 
estimation gold was held by the English, he thought, that, if he 
could make the English believe that he knew of a gold-mine in 
his own country, he might be employed to accompany a party 
to his native land, that he might guide them to the pretended 
mine. He communicated his plan to Assacomet. We know 
not why this man had been detained in England so long, when 
vessels were every year sailing to the North- American coast. 
Both of these men agreed in their story about the gold-mine. 
Thus a decided impulse was given to the interest in the region 
from which they came. The reader will be interested in the 
account which Sir Ferdinando Gorges gives of Epenow. 

" While I was laboring, by what means I might best continue life in my 
languishing hopes, there came one Harlow unto me, bringing with him a 
native of the island of Capawick, a place seated to the southward of Cape 
Cod, whose name was Epenow. He was a person of goodly stature, strong 
and well proportioned. This man was taken upon the main, by force, with 

1 Prince's Annals, p. 73; Belknap's Biography, p. 356. 



76 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



some twenty-nine others, 1 by a ship of London, which endeavored to sell 
them as slaves in Spain. But it being understood that they were Ameri- 
cans, and unfit for their uses, they would not meddle with them. This 
Epenow was one of them whom they refused ; wherein they expressed more 
worth than those that brought them to the market. 

" How Capt. Harlow came to be in possession of this savage I know 
not ; but I understood by others how he had been shown in London for a 
wonder. It is true, as I have said, that he was a goodly man, of a brave 
aspect, stout and sober in his demeanor, and had learned so much English 
as to bid those that wondered at him, ' Welcome, welcome ! ' " 

In the mean time the English were watching, with great 
jealousy, the advance of the French colony at Port Royal, now 
Annapolis. There was a French lady of deep religious feel- 
ing, Madame de Guercheville, who was strongly moved with 
the desire to send the glad tidings of the gospel to these 
benighted Indians. She was a lady of wealth, and of influence 
at court. Having obtained from De Monts a surrender of his 
royal patent, which it will be remembered granted him the 
whole territory called Acadia, extending from the fortieth to 
the forty-sixth degree of north latitude, she had the title of 
this truly imperial territory confirmed to her by a charter from 
the French monarch. 

Thus this lady became nominally the possessor of the whole 
seacoast, from the latitude of Philadelphia to the distance of 
more than a hundred miles north of Halifax. The region 
extended indefinitely into the interior. It had no limits but the 
Pacific Ocean. 2 In the spring of 1613 Lady Guercheville sent 
her agent, M. Suassaye, to take possession of the land in her 
name, and to set up her arms. He made a visit to Port Royal, 
and thence sailed for Mount Desert. Here he landed, with 
twenty-five colonists, and built a small fort and several log-cabins. 
The crew of the vessel which brought over this colony consisted 
of thirty-five men. They all co-operated with great energy in 
rearing the habitations. They planted a cross, and named the 
place St. Saviour. 

1 It is supposed that Gorges here confounds those stolen by Harlow with those 
soon after seized, with equal villany, by Hunt, in the region of the Sagadahock. 

2 The whole of this remarkable grant, or patent, will be found, in French, in 
Hazard's Historical Collection, vol. i. p. 45. 



TEE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



77 



It is uncertain whether this settlement was on the eastern or 
southern portion of the island. The lonely missionaries, Biard 
and Masse, had reared their huts, as it will be remembered, 
upon the southern shore. The intelligence of this movement 
was speedily communicated to the magistrates of the Virginia 
colony. They determined to expel these Frenchmen, as intrud- 
ers upon soil which the English claimed. Eleven vessels were 
equipped, manned by sixty soldiers, and with an armament of 
fourteen pieces of cannon. It was a formidable army for such 
an enterprise, and entirely resistless by the feeble colony. 

The French were taken quite by surprise, as this war-fleet 
entered their harbor. Their cannon were not in position ; and 
most of the men were absent, engaged in the various industrial 
employments their situation demanded. There were two French 
vessels riding at anchor. They were both taken without resist- 
ance. The English landed. In the confusion, one of the 
French missionaries was shot ; a few others were wounded. The 
small number who were in the fort escaped through a private 
passage, and fled into the woods. The victors tore down the 
French cross, and erected another, upon which they inscribed 
the name and the arms of the King of England. The next day 
all of the French colonists came in, and surrendered themselves 
and their stores to the English. 

Terrible must have. been their disappointment in finding their 
anticipations thus suddenly and unexpectedly blighted. Capt. 
Argal allowed his prisoners their choice, either to return to 
France in the French vessels, or to go with him and join the 
colony in Virginia. Fifteen decided to go with him, including 
one of the missionaries. 

Argal, thus victorious, directed the course of his fleet east- 
ward, and, having crossed the Bay of Fundy, cast anchor in the 
harbor of Port Royal. Here again the French, unconscious of 
any danger, were found unprepared for any conflict. They 
were busily employed in felling trees, rearing buildings, and 
preparing the soil for crops. The sight of eleven war-vessels 
suddenly entering their harbor astounded them. No resistance 
was attempted. Argal sent his armed boats ashore, applied the 
torch, and in two hours the whole flourishing village was in 



78 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



ashes. The colonists, impoverished and utterly ruined, were 
left to starve, or to find their way back to France as best they 
could. Argal took a French pinnace, which was in the harbor, 
and loading his vessels with the cattle, the provisions, and such 
other articles of value as he had rescued from the flames, 
returned to Virginia. 

There was, at that time, no war between France and Eng- 
land. There seems to have been no effort to settle the disputed 
claims by friendly conference. The only reason assigned for 
these deeds of violence, conflagration, and blood, was, that the 
French were trespassing upon territory which England claimed. 
Many condemned the transaction as not only inflicting need- 
lessly great suffering, but as contrary to the law of nations. 1 

The next } r ear (1614) Captain Hobson, in the employ of 
Gorges, set sail in June for Cape Cod. He took with him 
Epenow and Assacdmet, as guides to the gold-mine of which 
they had spoken. There was a third Indian captive, who 
accompanied them, by the name of Wanope, who died on ship- 
board. 

It would seem, from Gorges' narrative, that Epenow and 
Assacomet were held as prisoners. When the ship arrived at 
the harbor to which Epenow guided them, they were carefully 
watched, lest they should make their escape. As soon as the 
anchor was dropped, the principal inhabitants came crowding 
on board. Some of the brothers of Epenow were with them. 
The captain treated them all kindly, but kept a vigilant eye 
upon his captives that they should not go on shore. In the 
evening the little fleet of canoes left the ship ; the natives 
promising to return the next day, and to bring articles for trade. 
Gorges the younger, who accompanied this expedition, writes, — 

44 But Epenow privately had contracted with his friends how he might 
make his escape without performing what he had undertaken. For that 
cause I gave the captain strict charge to endeavor, by all means, to prevent 
his escape. And for the more surity, I gave order to have three gentlemen, 
of my own kindred, to be ever at hand with him ; clothing him with long 
garments fitly to be laid hold of, if occasion should require. 

1 This subject is quite f ally discussed in Prince's Annals, Smith's History, Belk- 
nap's Biography, British Dominions in North America. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



79 



11 Notwithstanding all this, his friends being all come at the time ap- 
pointed, with twenty canoes, and lying at a certain distance with their bows 
ready, the captain calls to them to come on board. But, they not moving, 
he speaks to Epenow to come unto him where he was in the forecastle of the 
ship. Epenow was then in the waist of the ship, between the two gentle- 
men that had him in guard. Suddenly he starts from them, and, coming 
to the captain, calls to his friends in English, to come on board. In the 
interim he slips himself overboard. 

" And although he were taken hold of by one of the company, yet, being 
a strong and heavy man, he could not be stayed. He was no sooner in the 
water, but the natives, his friends in the boats, sent such a shower of 
arrows, and came, withal, desperately so near the ship, that they carried him 
away in despite of all the musketeers, who were, for the number, as good as 
our nation did afford. And thus were my hopes of that particular voyage 
made void and frustrate. ' 9 

It cannot be denied that this was an heroic achievement of 
the Indians, in rescuing one of their friends from the kidnap- 
pers. We learn, from other sources, that the musketeers killed 
several of the natives, and wounded more. How great their 
loss in this action so unjust on the part of the English, we do 
not know ; but it is distinctly stated that Capt. Hobson and 
many of his men were wounded. 1 

It is supposed that Capoge, the native place of Epenow, was 
what is now called Martha's Vineyard, and that the events here 
recorded took place there. It may be well to state, in this con- 
nection, that five years after this, in 1619, Capt. Dermer, in the 
employ of Sir Ferdinand Gorges, visited this island. He met 
Epenow, who could speak English, and who rather triumphantly- 
told him of the manner of his escape. Dermer had come on 
shore with a well-armed boat's crew. Epenow and his friends, 
in some way, had received the impression that Dermer's object 
was again to seize him, and carry him back to England. A bat- 
tle ensued. The captain was severely wounded, and, with his 
crew, was driven back to the ship. This was the last conflict 
which took place upon that beautiful island, between the native 
inhabitants and the adventurers from the Old "World. It is said 
that Squantum, whom Weymouth had stolen and carried to 
England, and who the next year became the friend and inter- 



1 Smith's Xew England; Morton's Xew England Memorial, pp. 58, 59. 



80 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



preter of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, was with Capt. Dermer on 
this occasion, and saved his life. The captain writes, — 

" The Indians would have killed me, had not Squantum entreated hard 
in my behalf. Their desire of revenge was occasioned by an Englishman 
who, having many of them on board, made great slaughter of them with 
their murderers and small shot, when, as they say, they offered no injury on 
their parts." 1 



Drake's Book of the Indians, book ii. pp. 8-18. 



CHAPTER V. 



EXPLORATIONS AND SETTLEMENTS. 

John Smith's Career — Exploring the Coast — England and France at War — 
The War of the Natives, and the Plague — Zeal of Gorges — Vines's Expedi- 
tion — Conflicting Claims — Damariscotta and its Surroundings — Levett's 
Expedition — Views of Matrimony — Saco — General Lawlessness — Laconia 
Company — Various Trading Posts — Pemaquid — Tact of the French — The 
Sack of Bagaduce — Scene in the Kennebec — Testimony of Gov. Bradford. 

PROBABLY all our readers are in some degree familiar 
with the history of Capt. John Smith, whose life was 
saved by Pocahontas, the daughter of the Indian chief Pow- 
hatan. In the year 1614 Capt. Smith sailed from England for 
the Sagadahock, with two vessels, a ship and a bark. The 
object of his voyage was to explore the country, and to engage 
in the whale-fishery, and in traffic with the natives. 

Smith was but thirty-five years of age. He had already 
obtained much renown as a traveller. Six years before this time, 
he had been president of the colonial council of Virginia. The 
two vessels sailed from London on the 3d of March, 1614, car- 
rying but forty-five men. Smith commanded the ship, and 
Capt. Thomas Hunt the bark. The two vessels reached Mon- 
hegan the latter part of April, and soon after continued their 
course to the mouth of the Kennebec. Making this anchorage 
his central station, he sent out his boats in all directions, to fish 
and trade. In Penobscot Bay one of his boats came into col- 
lision with the natives. We know not what introduced the 
strife. Several of the English were slain, and probably many 
more of the natives.** The voyage proved profitable. Capt. 
Smith says, — 

6 81 



82 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



11 We got, for trifles, eleven thousand beaver, one hundred martens, and 
as many otters. We took and cured forty thousand fish, corned or in 
pickle." 1 

The net proceeds of this expedition, to the proprietors, 
amounted to about seven thousand dollars. This was a very 
handsome sum in those days, when a dollar was worth as much 
as several now. Capt. Smith says that he made these purchases 
with mere " trifles." It is a suggestive fact, that he states that 
his " trifles " were not much esteemed in the region of the 
Penobscot ; and the reason assigned was, that the French 
traders there paid the Indians much more liberal prices for 
their furs. 

The captain himself engaged in these trading excursions, in a 
boat with eight men. It was lovely summer weather. The 
climate of the sea-coast of Maine at that season is delight- 
ful. The magnificent headlands and Eden-like islands were 
crowned in all their glory. I have wandered much over this 
world, but I have seen no region which, in picturesque beauty, 
surpasses the islands, bays, and promontories of Maine, when 
glowing with the verdure of June and July. 

Capt. Smith visited along the coast, between the Sagadahock 
and what is now the southern part of Massachusetts, forty 
Indian villages. He enumerates twelve somewhat distinct 
tribes. They all, however, differed but little in language, cus- 
toms, and condition. The treachery of the white men had 
inspired them generally with dread. They were in continual 
fear of being shot or kidnapped, and consequently conducted 
the traffic with the utmost caution. On one occasion there was 
a skirmish, in which several of the Indians were killed. 

In July, 1614, Capt. Smith returned with his well-freighted 
ship to England. He left the bark at the mouth of the Ken- 
nebec, under the command of Capt. Thomas Hunt. He was 
instructed, as soon as he had freighted his vessel with fish and 
furs, to sail for Spain, and to dispose of his cargo there. Hunt 
proved to be a consummate villain. Capt. Smith seems to have 
been a very worthy man, and to have done every thing in his 

i Description of New England by Capt. John Smith. London, 1616. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



83 



power to win and to merit the confidence of the natives. He 
writes, — 

" One Thomas Hunt, the master of this ship, when I was gone, thinking 
to prevent the intent I had to make a plantation there, and thereby to keep 
this abounding country still in obscurity, that only he and some few mer- 
chants might enjoy wholly the benefits of the trade and profit of this 
country, betrayed four and twenty of those poor savages aboard his ship, and 
most dishonestly and inhumanly, for their kind treatment of me and all our 
men, carried them with him to Malaga, and sold them." 

These poor creatures were caught, in small numbers, at 
different points ; several of them were taken on the Kennebec. 
They were all sold in Spain for one hundred dollars each. Capt. 
Smith, in his history of his adventures, gave the country the 
name of " New England." It was supposed to comprehend the 
whole region between the Hudson River and Newfoundland. 

The pecuniary success of these enterprises to the coast of 
New England revived a general interest in the country. The 
zeal of Gorges was roused anew. The next year (1615) he and 
some of his friends equipped two ships for these shores. They 
were placed under the command of Capt. Smith. He took with 
him sixteen colonists, with directions to establish a settlement 
on some favorable point which he might select. 

But in this sad world war had again broken out. The mil- 
lions of England and the millions of France were grappling 
each other. They were killing, burning, and destroying as 
best they could. Smith and his companions were captured by 
a French ship, and carried prisoners to France. The savages 
were no better than the Christians. They also decided to 
summon all their energies to destroy one another. 

The Penobscot Indians were arrayed against the Kennebec 
Indians. Of the origin of this war we know nothing ; of 
its details, very little. The Indians had no historians. We 
simply know that murderous bands prowled through all the 
forests. The hideous war-whoop resounded far and wide. 
Tomahawks gleamed, barbed arrows tore their way through 
quivering nerves, villages blazed, blood flowed, and women and 
children shrieked beneath the war-club. Now the waves of 



84 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



ruin and woe surged in one direction, and again in another. 
Everywhere misery and death held high carnival. 

" ' Tis dangerous to rouse the lion, 
Deadly to cross the tiger's path; 
But the most terrible of terrors 
Is man himself in his wild wrath." 

This desolating war almost depopulated the realms of New 
England. No seeds were planted ; no harvests were gathered. 
The men could neither hunt or fish. All their energies were 
employed in attack or defence. Their families, driven from 
their blazing cabins, wandered in wretchedness through the 
forests. Nearly all the warriors, on both sides, were slain. 

Famine and pestilence, as is frequently the case, followed the 
ravages of human passion. A fearful plague, one of the most 
dreadful recorded in history, swept over the whole region. 
Many tribes were quite annihilated. This terrible scourge 
flapped its malarious wings from the Penobscot River to Narra- 
ganset Bay. There were not enough left living to bury the 
dead. For many }*ears their bones were seen bleaching around 
the ruins of their homes. No one knows what this disease was. 
Many have supposed it to have been the small-pox, since it was 
described as very loathsome. Others have believed it to have 
been something like the yellow fever, as it was said that the 
sick and dead, in color, resembled saffron. Morton writes, 
respecting this almost miraculous destruction of the Indians, — 

"'A short time after, the hand of God fell heavily upon +hem, with such 
a mortal stroke that they died in heaps. As they lay in their houses, the 
living, who were able to shift for themselves, would run away, and let them 
die, and leave their carcasses above ground without burial. In places where 
many inhabited, there hath been but one left alive to tell what became of 
the rest ; the living being not able to bury the dead. They were left for 
crows, vermin, and kites to prey upon; and the bones and skulls, upon the 
several places of their habitations, made such a spectacle, after my coming 
into those parts, that, as I travelled in that forest, it seemed to me a new- 
found Golgotha." 1 

1 Morton's Xew English Canaan. Amsterdam, 1837. (He came over to this 
country in 1622.) 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



85 



It so happened that Capt. Richard Vines, with a vessel's crew, 
passed this winter near Saco. He had been bred a physician, 
and was in command of one of Gorges' trading vessels. It is 
singular, that, while the natives were dying all around him, his 
ship's company enjoyed perfect health. 

"Though the mortality," Gorges writes, "was the greatest that ever 
happened within the memory of man, yet not one of them ever felt their 
head to ache, so long as they staid there." 1 

Capt. Vines named the place Winter Harbor. He had been 
directed by Gorges to pass the winter there, that he might 
report respecting the climate. Gorges had no faith in the 
gloomy accounts of Popham's colonists, who represented Maine 
as unfit for human habitation. It is manifest that Vines was 
well pleased with both the country and the climate, for he sub- 
sequently took up his residence there. His dwelling was reared 
upon a beautiful location on the west side of Saco River, in 
what is now the town of Biddeford. 

In the year 1620 the Pilgrims from England landed upon 
Plymouth Rock, and commenced their colony, now world- 
renowned, and whose fame can never die. That same year 
seven English ships made voyages to the coast of Maine, for fish 
and furs. The limits of the territory granted to the Plymouth 
company by the crown had not been very clearly defined. 
Through the influence of Gorges, a new patent was obtained, 
increasing the powers and privileges of the company. 

The new charter was issued Nov. 3, 1620. Forty noblemen, 
knights, and gentlemen constituted its corporate members. 
The territory conferred upon them consisted of the whole sea- 
coast extending from the fortieth to the forty-eighth degree of 
north latitude, and running back " from sea to sea," that is, 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific shores. Thus their domain 
extended, according to this grant, from the latitude of Philadel- 
phia to the mouth of the St. Lawrence, and swept across the 
whole breadth of the continent, about three thousand miles. 2 

1 America Painted to the Life, by Ferd. Gorges, Esq. 4to. London, 1659. 

2 Hubbard's History of New England, p. 620; Williamson's History of Maine, 
vol. i. p." 222. 



86 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



The breadth of the continent was, however, at that time, 
entirely unknown. 

It was well known that France laid claim to a large portion 
of this territory, and had many flourishing trading posts within 
its limits. Perhaps on this account it was stipulated that no 
Catholic should be permitted to settle here. The company had 
the exclusive right to trade and to the fishery within these ter- 
ritorial limits, and the power to expel all intruders. 1 

About twenty miles north-west from Monhegan, on the main, 
there is a short but broad and deep river, almost an arm of the 
sea, called the Damariscotta. It is navigable for large ships 
for a distance of about twelve miles. A little south-west from 
the mouth of this river, there is a group of five or six small 
islands, which have become quite noted in history, called the 
Damariscove Islands. One of these, Fisherman's Island, contains 
about seventy acres. There was a very good harbor here, and 
it was considered an important rendezvous in conducting the 
fisheries. About a mile south there is a larger island, called 
Wood or Damariscove Proper. It is two miles long, and half a 
mile wide. 

During the year 1622 thirty English vessels, engaged in 
fishery and the fur-trade, cast anchor at the Damariscove 
Islands. One of these vessels, " The Swallow," sent its shallop 
to visit the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Gov. Winslow also repaired 
to the island to obtain supplies for his famishing colonists. He 
wrote, — 

"I found kind entertainment and good respect, with a wnlingness to 
supply our wants, which was done so far as was able, and would not take 
any bills for the same, but did what they could freely." 2 

This region was, at that time, far more conspicuous and impor- 
tant than Plymouth, in its silence and solitude, with its feeble 
and apparently perishing colony. During the summer months 
quite a fleet of vessels rode at anchor in its waters. Well- 
manned boats were gliding in all directions among the islands 
and along the shores. Notwithstanding the great depopulation 



1 Belknap's History of New Hampshire. 2 Young's Chronicles, p. 293. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



87 



of the country by the plague, there were the remnants of many 
tribes left. From the borders of Canada, and from scores of 
miles in the west, they came, eager to exchange their furs for 
the hatchets, knives, and iron kettles of the strangers. 

The account which "VVinslow gives, certainly indicates that 
there was an enterprising and thrifty population gathered here. 
Their log-cabins were scattered around upon the islands and 
the shores of the mainland. They were, however, all mere 
adventurers, coming and going, with no attempt at a permanent 
settlement. When the storms of winter began to sweep those 
bleak cliffs, they had all disappeared with the robins and the 
swallows. 

At the south-western extremity of Damariscove Island, there 
is a deep, sheltered bay, which is entered by a narrow channel, 
bounded by precipitous rocks. This bay afforded an admirable 
harbor for fishing-vessels. It is said that, on the south-eastern 
slope of the island, there may still be found the remains of for- 
tifications which were reared in those days. There were at this 
time two prominent points, where these trading and fishing ves- 
sels rendezvoused, and from which they pushed out in their 
various excursions. These "were the region around Monhegan, 
which included Pemaquid and the Damariscove Islands ; and 
next in importance came the mouth of the Sagadahock. 

In the year 1623 Capt. Levett sailed along the coast in search 
of a place to establish a colony. He landed at Pemaquid. 
There he met an Indian chief, one of the lords of Pemaquid, 
by the name of Samoset. The intelligent reader will remember 
that this man is renowned in the annals of the Plymouth Colony. 
He had been stolen by the kidnappers, and carried to England. 
Thus he had been saved from the ravages of war and from the 
plague. In England he met with Christian friends, who treated 
him with the utmost kindness, and finally restored him to his 
country. In gratitude he became the warm friend of the Eng- 
lish colonists. 

But a few miles west of Damariscotta River there is Sheep- 
scot River, with bays and inlets, sprinkled with islands. The 
whole region presents an aspect of wonderful picturesque 
beauty. It is doubtless destined, in the future history of this 



88 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



country, to attain great celebrity. The whole sea-coast, from 
the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the capes of Florida, can 
present no scenery to rival it. 

Capt. Levett carefully explored this region. There were, at 
that time, nine ships anchored near together in these waters, 
engaged in fishing. He remained there four days, and was 
visited by many of the natives with their wives and children. 
A man by the name of Coke had established what we should 
call a country store, at the head of one of the coves. Here he 
carried on a brisk trade with the sailors and the natives. 
Several of the chiefs gathered about Capt. Levett ; and he dealt 
so honorably with them as to win their full confidence. 

Several of these chiefs brought some very rich beaver robes 
for sale. The sailors stole them. Levett made every possible 
effort to detect the thieves, and recover the goods. He ran- 
sacked the cabins and the chests, but all in vain. The good- 
natured chiefs bore their disappointment with great equanimity. 
Convinced that the captain had done all that could be desired 
to recover the stolen furs, they tried to comfort him, saying, 
" Well, you cannot find them. The rogues have carried them 
off into the woods, and hid them." 

They were so much pleased with Capt. Levett that they 
urged him to remain and settle in their country. The follow- 
ing characteristic dialogue took place, as given in intelligible 
English. Three or four of the chiefs came to him and said, — 

4 * Why will you go back to your own country? Why can 
you not remain with us? " 

44 My wife," Capt. Levett said, 44 will not come here unless I 
go back to fetch her." 

44 The dogs take your wife ! " they exclaimed. " If she will 
not obey your message, and come, give her a good beating." 

" But God," Capt. Levett replied, 44 would be displeased with 
me were I to do that." 

" Then," said they, " leave her alone, and take another wife 
here. If you will remain," one of them continued, " your son 
and mine shall be brothers, and there shall be friendship between 
us until Death comes to take us to his wigwam." 1 

i Levett;' s Voyage. Maine Hist. Soc, vol. ii. p. 86. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



89 



Levett coasted slowly along the shore, until he came to a 
small Indian settlement then called Quack, now York. It would 
seem that he had inspired the natives with so much confidence 
in him that they had no fears of being kidnapped. He writes, — 

" The next day the wind came fair; and I sailed for Quack with the king, 
queen, and prince, bow and arrows, dog and kitten, in my boat. His noble 
attendants rowed by us in their canoes." 

Much as Levett was pleased with the picturesque beauty of 
the region about Pemaquid, he did not deem it a suitable loca- 
tion for the establishment of a colony. The soil was evidently 
not fertile ; and the forests, composed mainly of evergreen trees, 
did not afford suitable timber for ship-building. 

It is said, that, during the year 1623, Richard Vines and others 
commenced a permanent settlement at Saco. John Oldham, a 
gentleman of property and high position, took up his residence 
there with his servants. During the next six years he trans- 
ported many colonists to that place at his own expense. 1 

It is probable, that, during the year 1623, individuals com- 
menced a permanent residence upon Arrowsic Island, near the 
mouth of the Sagadahoc, and upon the mainland, at the entrance 
of the river at Sheepscot, at Damariscotta, at Pemaquid, and at 
St. George's River. 2 Seven years after this, it was reported that 
eighty-four families, besides fishermen, were residing along the 
coast in this region. 

These men were generally reckless adventurers. Some were 
runaway seamen, some fugitives from justice, and some those 
vagrants of civilization, who, by a strange instinct, seek seclu- 
sion from all civil and religious restraints. The state of society 
was distinguished for its lawlessness. Every man followed his 
own impulses unchecked. The grossest immoralities prevailed. 
The Indians were cheated and outraged in every way to which 
avarice, appetite, or passion could incite depraved hearts. 
There was no sabbath here ; no clergy to proclaim the gospel 
of Jesus Christ, with its alluring promises and its fearful retribu- 
tions. Some royal commissioners were sent out to investigate 
affairs. Their report was appalling. This led the Plymouth 



i Sullivan, p. 219. 



2 Williamson, vol. i. p. 228. 



90 



THE n 1 STORY OF MAINE. 



Company to adopt vigorous measures to reduce society to some 
condition of law and order. 

Three gentlemen were sent over, — Robert Gorges as governor, 
Francis West as admiral, and Rev. William Merrill, invested 
with authority to manage public affairs. Their power seems 
quite absolute. They were instructed " to do what they should 
think just and fit in all cases, capital, criminal, civil, and mil- 
itary." Rev. William Merrill, an Episcopal clergyman, was 
commissioned to endeavor to establish the institutions of religion 
among this rude people, who were more difficult to be influenced 
than the Indians. Mr. Merrill met with such a reception, 
that he soon abandoned the effort as hopeless, and returned to 
England in disgust. 

It was probably during this year that Sir Ferdinando Gorges 
established a colony on his own account, at the mouth of York 
River, which was then called Agamenticus. He purchased 
twenty-four thousand acres of land, one-half on each side of 
the river, and sent out a company of mechanics and farmers, 
with oxen and all needful tools. The management of the 
colony was intrusted to his grandson, Ferdinando Gorges, a 
young man of rank and superior abilities, and to another young 
man, Col. Norton, whose achievements had already won for 
him considerable renown. The settlement was commenced on 
the eastern side of the river, near the sea. 1 

It was just before this, that what was called the Company of 
Laconia was organized. The Plymouth Company made a grant 
to Gorges, Mason, and a number of others, who were wealthy 
British merchants, of the whole territory between the Kenne- 
bec and the Merrimack Rivers. The region was called Laco- 
nia. The wealthy proprietors gave a very glowing description 
of this country. It was in their view an earthly paradise. The 
climate, midway between tropic heat and arctic ice, was perfect. 
The soil was fertile, rewarding the slight labor of the husband- 
man with abundant harvest. The forests were magnificent, 
furnishing the best ship-timber in the world, and were filled 
with game. The bays and rivers swarmed with fish of every 
variety, including an abundance of the most delicious of all 

i Belknap's Biog., vol. ii. p. 322. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



91 



fishes, the trout and the salmon. The atmosphere was invigor- 
ating and healthy in the highest degree, and the skies outrivalled 
in splendor the far-famed skies of Italy. It is not strange that 
such representations, spread broadcast over the land, should 
greatly have revived the zeal for emigration. 1 

Settlements began rapidly to increase along the coast, and to 
spread inland. The Pilgrims at Plymouth established a trad- 
ing house on the Penobscot, and another at the mouth of the 
Sagadahoc near the site of Popham's settlement. They se- 
cured land on both sides of the river, which seemed then to be 
called both Kennebec and Sagadahoc. A few miles up the 
river they established a post, where they kept a store of corn 
and merchandise in deposit. Quite a lucrative trade was car- 
ried on with the natives for furs. The celebrated " wampum " 
was introduced as the representative of money, or the currency 
medium. This consisted of belts, very gorgeously embroidered 
with blue and white shells. Subsequently brilliantly colored 
beads were substituted for shells. 2 

It is difficult, if not impossible, to fix with precision the dates 
of operations, thus gradual in their inception and growth. It 
was probably in the year 1628 that these movements were 
vigorously commenced upon the Kennebec. 3 

At this time Pemaquid was probably the most busy spot upon 
the New England coast. Two British merchants had purchased 
it, on condition that they would, at their own cost, transport 
colonists there, and establish a settlement. A court was ere 
long established. Thus Pemaquid became the centre both of 
law and trade. It is said that it was then a more important 
port than Quebec, the capital of Canada. Its population was 
estimated at five hundred souls. 4 

The situation of Pemaquid, which was the most eligible 
mainland site near Monhegan, was very alluring. The harbor 

1 Hubbard's New England, p. 616; Belknap's Biography, vol. i. p. 396; Wil- 
liamson's Maine, vol. i. p. 225. 

2 Young's Chronicles, p. 14; Se wall's Ancient Dominions, p. 113. 

3 It is not certain whether this trading-house was at the mouth of the Kenne- 
bec or just above Merrymeeting Bay. See Prince's Chronological History of 
New England, p. 169. 

4 Thornton's Pemaquid, p. 65. 



02 



THE II I STORY OF MAINE. 



was a small circular basin, formed by the gently flowing river, 
before its waters entered the ocean through a channel but a 
hundred and fifty feet wide. This bay was many fathoms deep. 
It was encircled on the west by rocky eminences, with a clump 
of trees upon the extreme outmost point. This point was the 
site of the ancient town and harbor of Pemaquid. Mr. Sewall 
writes, — 

" The peninsula has evidently, at some period, been entirely circumval- 
lated with water, and thus separated from the main, with which it was prob- 
ably connected by an artificial way. It has also been walled in. The 
outline of its defences can still be traced. Its streets were paved with peb- 
b]e-stones, and many of its buildings were of like material. The principal 
street, passing longitudinally between the extremes of this peninsula north 
and south, was paved, and is still to be traced, though nearly overgrown with 
grass or covered with earth. The outlines of the fort, and the position of 
its tower, in the south-westerly extreme of the peninsula, and immediately 
fronting the harbor's entrance, are, in distinct detail, traceable in every 
curve and square, amid mouldering lime and rock, the fragments of its 
masonry." 1 

It is indeed an interesting locality, not only from its rugged 
and picturesque scenery, where the ocean, broken into lakelets, 
and where islands and headlands, add charms to the view, but 
from the historic associations which meet the visitant at almost 
every footstep. The writer, with a party of gentlemen inter- 
ested in antiquarian research, visited, a few years ago, this 
locality, by far the most memorable upon the coast of Maine. 
A luxuriant mowing-field now covers the ground, where, two 
hundred and fifty years ago, the hamlets stood, in whose streets 
the moccasin ed Indian and the European adventurer met in 
eager traffic. There is a small space enclosed where the ashes 
of the dead repose. 

"Life's labor done, securely laid 
In this their last retreat, 
Unheeded o'er their silent dust 
The storms of life shall beat." 

With eloquence Mr. Sewall writes of this region, now so 
silent and solitary : — 

" About this devotee 1 spot, armies have gathered like eagles to the carcass, 
and the din of war, in all its accumulated horrors of blood and carnage, has 

1 Ancient Dominions of Maine, p. 115. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



93 



raged. The ships of contending nations have tinged its waters with human 
gore, and poured their iron hail in destructive broadsides upon its fortified 
places, till the ruthless storm has swept its streets, and crushed out at once 
the life and energy of its defenders. Here the red man with a howl of defi- 
ance, and the white man with the subdued voice of prayer, have bitten the 
dust together, amid the shrieks of forlorn women and helpless children." 

This region having passed into the proprietorship of Brit- 
ish merchants, rapidly increased in population ; and a better 
class began to appear than the rude sailors of former years. 
Mechanics and farmers came. The Pilgrims at Plymouth were 
gaining strength, and their fields were waving with corn. A 
brisk trade was opened between Plymouth and Pemaquid, shal- 
lop-loads of corn being exchanged for furs. 

There was peace between the settlers and the natives. Still 
there was no cordial friendship. With the French in Canada it 
was different. They lived, in general, with the natives, affec- 
tionately as brothers. They sold powder and fire-arms to the 
Indians as freely as any other articles. They travelled among 
them as confidingly as the}^ would have journeyed through the 
provinces of France. But the English did not dare to trust 
the natives with pistols and muskets. They seldom ventured 
any distance from their fortresses unarmed. Even a royal 
proclamation was issued, forbidding the sale of fire-arms to the 
natives. 1 

Any attempt to describe the various grants at this time, made 
to individuals and companies, would but weary the reader. The 
Saco settlement was prosperous, and had the reputation of being 
highly orderly. In the year 1630 a patent was obtained grant- 
ing a territory called Lygonia. It is said to have extended from 
Kennebunk on the west, to Harps well on the east. Three Lon- 
don gentlemen were the proprietors. To encourage emigration, 
they published very glowing accounts of the region. In scene- 
ry, climate, soil, timber, fish, and game, it was every thing that 
was desirable. Thus influenced, a company of emigrants landed 
in Casco Bay, at some point now not with certainty ascer- 
tained. 2 They remained but a year, when, dissatisfied with the 
country, they scattered and disajDpeared. 

1 Williamson, vol. i. p. 234. 

2 Williamson, voL i. p. 239; Sullivan, p. 305; Hubbard's Kew England, 616. 



94 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



About the same time another patent was issued, which subse- 
quently attained much note as the Waldo Patent. Ic covered 
a region of thirty square miles, and extended from the Muscon- 
gus to the Penobscot. Its principal object was to confer the 
right of exclusive trade with the Indians. 1 The various patents, 
granted hy the Plymouth Council, extended along the whole sea- 
board, from the Piscataqua to the Penobscot, excepting the small 
region between the mouth of the Kennebec and Damariscotta. 

The territory of Sagadahoc, extending from the mouth of 
the Kennebec to Damariscotta, was about fifteen miles in width. 
All along the coast, emigrants were gradually pushing their way 
back into the country. There was a region called 44 Sheepscot 
Farms," where fifty families were gathered. In what is now 
called Boothbay and in Woolwich, many fishermen had reared 
their huts. Various incidents of minor importance must be 
omitted in a narrative covering so much space as is included in 
this history. One event occurring at this time merits especial 
notice. 

A trading port had been established on the Penobscot at a 
point called Bagaduce, now Castine. 2 A very lucrative trade 
was carried on with the Indians, mainly in furs. It will be 
remembered that there was a dispute as to the proprietorship of 
this region, it being claimed alike by the French and the Eng- 
lish. A small French vessel entered the bay, and, finding the 
port defenceless, plundered it of all its furs, which were esti- 
mated to be worth two thousand dollars. Gov. Bradford, 
of Plymouth Colony, gives the following description of this 
event : — 

" It was in this manner: the master of the house, and part of the com- 
pany with him, were come with their vessel to the westward, to fetch a 
supply of goods, which was brought over for them. In the mean time comes 
a small French ship into the harbor, and amongst the company was a false 
Scot. They pretended that they were newly come from the sea, and knew 
not where they were, and that their vessel was very leaky, and desired that 
they might haul her ashore, and stop her leaks; and many French compli- 
ments they used, and conges they made. 

1 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 243. 

2 Some spell this Biguyduce, deriving the name from a Frenchman who once 
resided there. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



95 



"In the end, seeing but three or four simple men that were servants, and 
by this Scotchman understanding that the master and the rest of the com- 
pany were gone from home, they fell of commending their guns and muskets 
that lay upon racks by the wall-side. They took them down to look at 
them, asking if they were charged. And, when they were.possessed of them, 
one presents a piece ready charged against the servants, and another a pis- 
tol, and bid them not stir, but quietly deliver up their goods. They carried 
some of the men aboard, and made the others help to carry away the goods. 
And, when they had taken what they pleased, they set them at liberty, and 
went their way with this mockery, bidding them tell their master, when he 
came, that some of the Isle of Rye gentlemen had been there." 

It would seem that such acts of piracy were not infrequent 
in those lawless days. A miscreant, by the name of Dixy Bull, 
gathered a piratic gang, and, raising the black flag, ravaged the 
coast of Maine, capturing several vessels, and plundering the 
unprotected plantations. The freebooters attacked Pemaquid. 
Though one of the gang was shot from the palisades, still they 
succeeded in rifling the port. 

For several months Bull continued his ravages alono; the east- 
ern coast. Four vessels, with forty armed men, were sent out 
in search of him. Bull, thus pursued, fled from those waters, 
and continued his piracies farther south. At length his gang 
dispersed, and he returned to England quite enriched. But 
there he was arrested, tried, and executed. 1 

Another very serious difficulty occurred this year, on the Ken- 
nebec River, between the " Plantation of Piscataqua " and the 
" Plymouth Colony." This latter colony claimed the Kennebec 
River, and the exclusive right to trade with the Indians, for a 
distance of fifteen miles on each side. A man by the name of 
Hocking, or as some spell it Hoskins, from Piscataqua, entered 
the Kennebec with a boat-load of goods to exchange for furs. 
Sailing directly by the two trading ports of the Plymouth peo- 
ple, one of which was at the mouth of the river, near the 
ancient Popham fort, and the other, as we have mentioned, 
probably just above Merrymeeting Bay, he ascended the river 
to Cushnoc, or Cushenoc, as it is sometimes spelled. 2 This was 

1 Williamson, vol. i. p. 252; Ancient Dominions, p. 118; Varney's History of 
Maine, p. 63. 

2 See Williamson, p. 253. 



96 



TEE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



where Augusta now stands. The importance of the trade of 
this region may be inferred, from the fact that forty hogsheads 
of beaver-skins were taken from the river during this }-ear. 
There is some discrepancy in the details which are given of this 
transaction, but none whatever in the general facts. A boat 
with armed men was sent up the river, to expostulate with 
Hocking upon his illegal act. We cannot give the result more 
accurately than in the language of Gov. Bradford : — 

u But all in vain. He could get nothing of him but ill words. So he 
considered, that now was the season for trade to come down, and that, if he 
should suffer Hocking to take it from them, all their former charge would 
be lost, and they had better throw all up. So consulting with his men, who 
were willing thereto, he resolved to put him from his anchors, and let him 
drift down the river with the stream; but commanded the men, that none 
should shoot a shot upon any occasion, except he commanded them. 

" He spoke to him again, but all in vain. Then he sent a couple in a 
canoe to cut his cable, the which one of them performs. But Hocking takes 
up a piece which he had laid ready, and, as the bark sheered by the canoe, 
he shot him close under her side, in the head, so that he fell down dead 
instantly. One of his fellows, who loved him well, could not hold, but with 
a musket shot Hocking, who fell down dead, and never spake a word." 1 

This event caused a great deal of trouble. It was finally set- 
tled without the clash of arms. Lords Say and Brook wrote to 
the governor of New Plymouth : — 

"We could, for the death of Hoskins, 2 have despatched a man-of-war, 
and beat down your houses at Kennebec about your ears. But we have 
thought another course preferable. Let some of the Massachusetts magis- 
trates, and Capt. Wiggin, our agent in Piscataqua, review the whole case, 
and do justice in the premises." 3 

The case was brought before the Court of Colonial Assistants 
in Boston. It was decided that the Plymouth Colonists had 
the exclusive right of sale within their patent. It was adjudged 
that the act of shooting Hocking, though in some degree a vio- 
lation of the sixth commandment, was, on the whole, excusable 
homicide. 4 

1 History of Plymouth Plantation; also Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. v. p. 109, 2d 
series. 

2 They so spelled it, while Bradford spelled it Hockins. 
s Winthrop's Journal, p. 64; Hubbard's K E., p. 168. 

4 "Williamson, vol. i. p. 253. 



CHAPTER VI. 



PROGRESS OF SETTLEMENTS. 



Capture at Macliias — The Career of Bagnall — The Two Retaliations — Men- 
acing Aspect of Affairs — The Twelve Provinces — Ferdinando Gorges Gov- 
ernor of all New England — Expedition of D'Aulney — Energy of Miles 
Standish — The Administration of William Gorges — Agamenticus — Popu- 
lation of Maine — The New Grant to Gorges — The Province of Maine — 
Thomas Gorges — The Constitution — Religious and Political Principles — 
Woman's Rights. 

TN the year 1633 the English established a trading-post east 



of- the Penobscot, near where Machias now stands. The 
station was on the west bank of the river, a little above Cross 
Island. Mr. Vines of Saco was one of the principal owners 
of the merchandise collected there. The property was placed 
under the guard of five or six well-armed men. In establishing 
this post, it was doubtless one of the objects of the colonial 
proprietors to hold possession of the country. 

Claude de la Tour, the French commandant at Port Royal, 
considered this movement as a trespass upon territory which 
had been granted to him by the king of France. He made a 
descent upon the place, and captured it after a slight defence, 
in which two of the English were killed. With his prisoners, 
and booty amounting to about twenty-five hundred dollars, he 
returned to Port Royal. The Plymouth Colony sent an agent, 
Mr. Allerton, to that place, to endeavor to recover the prisoners 
and the property, and to ascertain whether La Tour acted 
under the authority of the French Government. He defiantly 
replied, — 

" I have taken them as lawful prize. My authority is from the king of 
France, who claims the coast from Cape Sable to Cape Cod. I wish the 




7 



•5 



98 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



English to understand, that, if they trade to the eastward of Pemaquid, I shall 
seize them. My sword is all the commission I shall show. When I want 
help I will produce my authority. Take your men, and be gone." 

Whether the prisoners were released, or were sent to France, 
is uncertain." 1 Many of the traders were very worthless char- 
acters, who deemed it no sin to cheat an Indian. There is, in 
Casco Bay, but a short distance from Cape Elizabeth, an island 
called Richmands, sometimes spelled Richman's Island. It is 
about three miles in circumference, and contains about two 
hundred acres of pretty good land. In the year 1628 an Eng- 
lish emigrant, by the name of Walter Bagnall, took possession 
of this island without any title. His sole object seems to have 
been to trade with the Indians. " Bagnall," writes Winthrop, 
"was a wicked fellow, and had much wronged the Indians." 2 

He had several boon companions with him, and became quite 
notorious, under the nickname of " Great Walt." In a three- 
years' trade he had amassed what was then considered a large 
amount of property. The Indians became much enraged by 
the wrongs inflicted upon them by this unscrupulous gang. In 
the year 1631 a chief, by the name of Squidrayset, or as some 
call the name Scitterygusset, with a few warriors, went to the 
island, killed the Englishmen, plundered the house, and, apply- 
ing the torch, left behind them but smouldering ruins. The 
savages, who had committed this crime, or, as they considered 
it, performed this act of justice, retired with their booty. 

Walter Neal was the agent of the London proprietors, Gor- 
ges, Mason, & Co. He had two residences. One was at Kit- 
tery Point, and the other at Portsmouth, then called Strawberry 
Bank. Five men were associated with him. They carried on 
quite extensively the business of trade, fishing, salt-making, and 
farming. 

As soon as Neal heard of the assassination of Bacrnall and his 
gang, he sent a party to the island in pursuit of the murderers. 
They found a solitary Indian there, whom they seized, and hung 
by the neck till he was dead ; with no evidence that he had 
any thing whatever to do with the murders. The perpetrators 

1 Hubbard's New England, p. 163; "Winthrop's Journal, p. 57. 

2 Winthrop's Journal, p. 30. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



99 



of the crime were probably then far away on the mainland. It 
is not strange that the unenlightened Indians should, soon after, 
have seized upon an innocent English traveller, wandering upon 
the banks of the Saco, and, in retaliation, have put him to 
death. 1 But these outrages, far more excusable on the part of 
the ignorant Indians than on the part of enlightened Europeans, 
were rapidly engendering a bitter hostility between the two. 

The following is the account which Drake gives of this trans- 
action. It illustrates the difficulty of ascertaining the minute 
details of many of these events, where the general facts are 
undisputed. We give the narrative slightly abbreviated : — 

" Manatahqua, called also Black William, was a sachem and proprietor 
of Nahant. Out of his generosity this Indian duke gave this place to the 
plantation of Saugus. He was a great friend of the whites. There was a 
man by the name of Walter Bagnall, a wicked fellow who had much wronged 
the Indians, who was killed near the mouth of Saco River, probably by some 
of those whom he had defrauded. This was in October, 1631. As some 
vessels were upon the eastern coast, in search of pirates, in January, 1633, 
they put in at Richmand's Island, where they fell in with Manatahqua. 
This was the place where Bagnall was killed about two years before. But 
whether Manatahqua had any thing to do with it does not appear, nor do I 
find that any one, even his murderers, pretended that he was in any way 
implicated. But, out of revenge for Bagnall's death, these private hunters 
hanged Manatahqua. On the contrary, it was particularly mentioned that 
Bagnall was killed by Squidrayset and his men, some Indians belonging to 
that part of the country. This Squidrayset, or Scittergusset, for whose act 
Manatahqua suffered, was the first sachem who deeded land in Falmouth, 
Me." 2 

The tribes, in the extreme eastern part of the State were 
intimately associated with the French, and shared with them 
their hatred of the English. They were much enraged with 
those in the vicinity of Piscataqua, accusing them of acts 
of hostility, and of sheltering themselves in a cowardly manner 
under the protection of the English. At one time they fitted 
out a fleet of forty war canoes to attack the Piscataqua Indians. 
This was in the year 1632. There were several conflicts. Af- 
fairs were daily becoming more and more complicated, and war- 

1 "Williamson's History, vol. i. p. 251; Hubbard's History of., New England, 
p. 142; Winthrop's Journal, p. 30. 

2 Drake's History of the Indians, book ii. p. 53. 



100 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



clouds were rising in all directions. Thoughtful men among 
the settlers, were filled with anxiety in view of the increasing 
perils. The Indians were becoming more and more unfriendly. 
The French Avere exerting all their influence to drive the 
English out of Maine. 

English pirates were sweeping the coast. Robbery and vio- 
lence were everywhere. Gorges became greatly disheartened. 
His long-continued enterprises had brought him no returns. 
He testified before the Commons of England in the following 
terms : — 

" I have spent twenty thousand pounds of my estate, and thirty years, 
the whole flower of my life, in new discoveries and settlements upon a 
remote continent, in the enlargement of my country's commerce and domin- 
ions, and in carrying civilization and Christianity into regions of savages." 

In the year 1635 the vast territory of the Plymouth Council 
was divided into twelve provinces. The first four of these were 
within the territory of the present State of Maine. The first 
division embraced the country between the St. Croix River and 
Pemaquid. From the head of Pemaquid, the shortest line was 
to be struck to the Kennebec, and thence to follow up that river 
to its source. The second was a small division, extending only 
from Pemaquid to the Sagadahoc River. The third embraced 
the region between the Kennebec and the Androscoggin Rivers. 
We suppose that both these rivers were then considered as ter- 
minating at Merrymeeting Bay. The Sagadahoc connected 
that bay with the ocean. The fourth extended from the Sagada- 
hoc River to the Piscataqua. It embraced the previous dis- 
tricts of Lygonia, Saco, and Agamenticus. Thu3 the whole 
territory of what is now the State of Maine was districted 
from the St. Croix, its north-eastern boundary, to the Piscat- 
aqua at its south-western terminus. 1 

On the 25th of April, 1635, the Plymouth Council held its 
last meeting. In surrendering its charter to the king, it entered 
upon its books the following melancholy record : — 

" TTe have been bereaved of friends, oppressed with losses, expenses, and 
troubles; assailed before the privy council with groundless charges, and 

1 Chalmers' Political Annals, p. 472; Hubbard's Narrative, p. 291; William- 
son's History, voL i. p. 246. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



101 



weakened by the French and other foes without and within the realm. 
What remains is only a breathless carcass. We now therefore resign the 
patent to the king, first reserving all grants by us made, and all vested 
rights ; a patent we have holden about fifteen years." 1 

The king appointed a new company to superintend colonial 
affairs. It consisted of eleven of his privy councillors, and 
they were entitled " Lords Commissioners of all His American 
Plantations.'''' This new company appointed Ferdinando Gor- 
ges governor of the whole of New England. There were eight 
divisions, extending south-west along the coast to near the fortieth 
degree of north latitude. Thus, according to this arrangement, 
New England began near the Raritan River, in the present State 
of New Jersey, and was bounded on the north-east by the River 
St. Croix. Its northern boundaries were quite indeterminate. 

Sir Ferdinando Gorges was a vigorous, energetic man of sixty 
years. He decided to take up his abode in the extended realms 
over which he was appointed to rule. A man-of-war was in 
preparation to convey him to his domains. By an accident in 
launching, the ship fell upon the stocks, and was badly broken. 
This delayed the voyage, and the feet of Gorges never pressed 
the soil of that new world which had absorbed so many of the 
energies of his long life. 

It is said that Gorges never took much interest in New Eng- 
land affairs, save in the four districts in the State of Maine ; 
two of the most important of which he could almost regard as 
his own personal property. In his interesting " Brief Narration 
of the Advancement of Plantations in America," he writes very 
sensibly and somewhat sadly, in view of past mistakes, — 

" We have been endeavoring to found plantations in a wilderness region, 
where men, bred up in villages and farms and plenty, could hardly be hired 
to stay; or, if they were induced to become residents, they must be fed in 
idleness from their master's crib, yet with few or no returns. We have 
made the discoveries, and opened the fields for others to take the harvest. 
Trade, fishery, lumber, — these have been phantoms of pursuit; while there 
has been a criminal neglect of husbandry, the guide to good habits, the true 
source of wealth, and the almoner of human life." 2 

1 This document is given in full in Hazard's Historical Collections. See also 
Hutchinson's Collections of State Papers. 

2 Gorges' Narrative, pp. 48, 49. 



102 



TEE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



The French possessions in North America were called by the 
general name of New France. Acadia, or Nova Scotia, was 
under the military command of Gen. Razilla, or Rosillon, as the 
name is sometimes given. In the summer of 1635 he sent a 
man-of-war, under Capt. d'Aulne}^, to take possession of the 
Penobscot region, and to drive out the English. 1 This man 
seemed anxious to redeem his character from the imputation of 
piracy, and to have it distinctly understood that he was acting 
as the agent of his home government. He broke up the set- 
tlement, and drove away the settlers, giving them a schedule of 
the property he had seized. It would seem that he claimed for 
France the whole New England coast. As he dismissed the 
plundered traders, he said to them, — 

" Go and tell all the plantations southward to the fortieth degree, that a 
fleet of eight ships will be sent against them, within a year, to displace the 
whole of them. And know that my commission is from the king of 
France." 2 

Razilla established a garrison here of eighteen men. The 
colonists at New Plymouth sent a large ship and a bark to drive 
out these invaders. Capt. Girling, who was intrusted with the 
command, was promised a sum amounting to about two thou- 
sand dollars, if he should succeed in the enterprise. But he 
found the French firmly intrenched. After an unavailing bom- 
bardment, in which he expended all his ammunition, he retired 
discomfited. 3 

There is considerable diversity in the details of many of these 
events which occurred two hundred years ago, when there were 

1 " In 1G26 the Plymouth Colonists erected a trading-house at a place called by 
them Penobscot, by the French Pentago'it, and by us Bagaduce and Castine. In 
1635 they were dispossessed by the French, under D'Aulney de Charnisray, com- 
monly called D'Aulnay by the English, — a lieutenant under the Acadian gov- 
ernor Razilla." — The Centennial Celebration of Bangor, p. 23. 

2 Hubbard's New England, p. 162. 

8 "The reason, undoubtedly, why France at this time extended her claims no 
farther south than the fortieth parallel, was a fear of exciting the jealousy and 
hostility of the Spaniards. Spain, at that time, was the great military and naval 
power of Europe. There can be no doubt that the limiting of De Mont's charter 
to the fortieth parallel of latitude, seven degrees short of all her previous claims, 
was induced by a dread of Spanish interference." — Memorial Volume of Popham's 
Celebration, p. 78. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



103 



but few scholars in the land, and when the narratives were 
vague and hastily written. In the annals of New Plymouth we 
find it stated, that the ship of about three hundred tons was 
called the " Great Hope." The name of the commander is 
given as Golding. Capt. Miles Standish, with twenty men, was 
in command of the Plymouth bark. He was to render all the 
aid he could in the recovery of the post, and was intrusted with 
seven hundred pounds of beaver-skins to be delivered to Gold- 
ing, or Girling, as soon as he should have accomplished his task. 
If Girling failed he was to receive nothing. 

Capt. Standish led the way into the harbor. He was one of 
the most impetuous of brave men. Had he held the supreme 
command, he would have made short work of it. But Girling, 
without any summons to surrender, much to the indignation of 
Standish, kept at a great distance, and unavailingly bombarded 
the earthworks of the French, until he had not another shot to 
throw. He then would have seized upon the beaver-skins 
which he had not earned, but Standish spread his sails, and 
returned to Plymouth. The French kept the port, and Plym- 
outh kept its beaver-skins. 1 . 

It is difficult to reconcile the somewhat contradictory accounts 
which are given of this transaction. From some narratives we 
should infer that Girling's vessels remained impotently moored 
for a considerable length of time, before the French ramparts. 
At length a very polite official communication was sent by the 
French officers to the Plymouth colonists, stating that they 
would claim no territory west of Pemaquid. For many years 
the Penobscot remained the tacitly admitted boundary between 
the French and English possessions. 2 

The following is the account which Gov. Bradford gives of 
the attempt of the New Plymouth colonists to regain the port 
at Castine : — 

11 Girling would take no advice; would neither summon the enemy, nor 
permit Capt. Standish to do so ; neither would he have patience to bring his 
ship where she might do execution, but began to shoot at a distance like a 
madman, and did them no hurt at all. The which, when those of the plan- 

1 Hubbard's New England, p. 162. 

2 Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, vol. ii p. 164. 



104 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



tation saw, they were much grieved, and went to him, and told him he would 
do no good, if he did not lay his ship better to pass, for she might lie within 
pistol-shot of the house. At last, when he saw his own folly, he was per- 
suaded, and laid her well, and bestowed a few shot to good purpose. 

" But now, when he was in a way to do some good, his powder was gone. 
So he could do no good, but was fain to draw off again; by which means the 
enterprise was made frustrate, and the French encouraged. For, all the while 
he shot so unadvisedly, they lay close under a work of earth, and let him 
consume himself. He advised with Capt. Standish how he might be sup- 
plied with powder, for he had not to carry him home. So Capt. Standish 
told him he would go to the next plantation, and do his endeavor to procure 
him some; and so he did. But understanding by intelligence that Girling 
intended to seize on the bark, and surprise the beaver, he sent him the pow- 
der, and brought the bark and beaver home. But Girling never assaulted 
the place more, but went his way. And this was the end of this business." 1 

Sir Ferdinando Gorges had obtained what was considered an 
absolute property in the territory between Piscataqua and the 
Sagadahoc, called New Somersetshire. He sent his nephew, 
William Gorges, over as governor of this province. He was an 
intelligent, upright man, of much executive ability. 

Saco was then the most flourishing settlement in the province ; 
and Gov. Gorges selected it as his residence. It is estimated 
that at that time the population of the place amounted to about 
one hundred and sixty. The first court was opened the 28th of 
March, 1636. It was held in a dwelling-house near the shore 
on the east side of the river. Six commissioners aided in the 
administration of justice. This court continued its sessions for 
about three years. 2 

There were then five settlements embraced in the province 
of New Somersetshire. The first was Agamenticus, or, as some- 
times called, Accomenticus. About eight miles north-west from 
the present harbor of York, there was a commanding eminence 
thus called by the Indians. It was a noted landmark for sea- 
men, as it was the first height caught sight of in approaching 

1 Gov. Bradford's Kew Plymouth, p. 208. "The government of Massachusetts 
Bay had given Plymouth some encouragement that it would assist them to regain 
their trading-house ; but when called upon it had various excuses for declining. 
Plymouth was in the wrong: the French had merely taken possession of their 
own territory." — Centennial Celebration of the Settlement of Bangor, p. 24. 

2 Chalmers' Political Annals, p. 472; Folsom's Saco and Biddeford, p. 49. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



105 



that region from the sea. It was a majestic swell of land, 
covered with a dense forest. From its summit one commanded 
a view of the Atlantic coast from Cape Ann to Cape Elizabeth. 1 

There was a short salt-water river here, affording at its mouth 
a safe harbor. Gorges, pleased with the description of the 
place, had obtained, about the year 1624, a grant of twenty- 
four thousand acres of land extending on both sides of the 
river. Here a small agricultural colony commenced its labors. 
The precise time of this settlement is not known. 2 

At Kittery Point there was another rambling settlement, 
called the Piscataqua Plantation. The inhabitants were scat- 
tered along the shore, and were mainly engaged in fishing and 
in the lumber business. 

The third was called the Black Point settlement. It was a 
very feeble colony, consisting of but few families in the present 
town of Scarborough. Capt. Thomas Commock, or as some- 
times spelled Cammock, with Henry Joscelyn, had obtained a 
grant here of about fifteen hundred acres. The settlers, too 
poor to purchase lands, were generally their tenants. 

The Lygonian Plantation, so called, embraced Richmand's 
Island, and a considerable extent of territory on the mainland. 
The population consisted principally of fishermen, hunters, and 
traders. 3 

There were, at the same time, on the Androscoggin, on both 
sides of the falls, a few scattered hamlets called the Pejepscot 
settlement. 

The Pemaquid Plantation had been quite flourishing for five 
or six years ; and in various other parts of the territory now 
called Maine, settlers were scattered. 4 

The colonies of Massachusetts, New Plymouth, Connecticut, 
and even of New Hampshire, were in a more flourishing condi- 

* Williamson's Maine, vol. i. p. 96. 

2 Gorges' New England, p. 16; Belknap's Biography, vol. ii. p. 378. 
8 Sullivan's History, p. 305; Hubbard's Narrative, p. 294. 

4 Williamson gives the following estimate of the probable population of Maine 
at that time : — 

Piscataqua settlement, 200; Agamenticus, 150; Saco, including Black Point, 175; 
Casco, orLygonia Patent, and Pejepscot, 75; Kennebec Patent, 100; Sagadahoc, 
Pemaquid, Sheepscot, St. Gorges, and islands, 500: Isles of Shoals and other places, 
290: total, 1,400. 

Possibly the whole number might have been fifteen hundred. — Vol i. p. 267. 



106 



TDE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



tion than the Province of Maine. Gorges was anxious to induce 
gentlemen of wealth and influence to emigrate to his domains. 

In July, 1637, he made a grant of eight thousand acres of 
land in the present town of Bowdoinham, to Sir Richard Edge- 
combe. The troubles then existing in England, in both Church 
and State, caused many to seek civil and religious freedom by 
emigrating to the New World. It is estimated that during ten 
years, more than twenty-one thousand had sought a retreat on 
these shores. Even Oliver Cromwell had formed the resolve 
to take refuge in New England from the tyranny of king and 
court. The king became alarmed at the amount of emigration, 
and issued a decree that no one should leave his realms without 
taking the oath of allegiance to him, and of obedience to the 
decrees of the English Church. 

On the 3d of April, 1639, King Charles I. issued a provin- 
cial charter to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, conferring upon him still 
more extensive territory in what is now Maine, with extraordi- 
nary powers and privileges. The region embraced in this char- 
ter commenced with the mouth of the Piscataqua River, and 
ran north-easterly along the Atlantic coast to the mouth of the 
Sagadahoc ; it then ascended through that river and the Ken- 
nebec, in a north-westerly direction, a distance of a hundred and 
twenty miles, which would make its northern boundary near 
the mouth of Dead River ; it then ran south-westerly across the 
country to near a point on Uinbagog Lake ; there it met a line 
running north from Salmon Falls River, a tributary of the Pis- 
cataqua, a distance of a hundred and twenty miles. Such were 
the limits of this province, so far as we can now ascertain from 
the descriptions of the charter. It also included the islands on 
the coast within five leagues of the main. 2 

The region was designated the Province or County of Maine. 
It contained about one-sixth of the present area of the State. 
Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his heirs were lord proprietors of the 
province. They were bound to take the oath of allegiance to 
the crown, and a few unimportant claims were reserved by the 
king. 

1 Holmes' Annals, vol. i. p. 299. 

2 This charter is given in full in Hazard's Collections, voL i. p. 443. 



THE BISTORT OF MAINE. 



107 



" The articles of faith and forms of ecclesiastical government, used by 
the Church of England, were established; and to the proprietary was given 
the patronage of all churches and chapels, and the right of dedicating them 
according to Episcopal usages." 1 

There are two reasons assigned for the name of Maine, which 
was given to this Province. The queen of England had inher- 
ited a province of that name in France ; and, again, there were 
so many islands in that region, that it was common to speak of 
the main land, or the Maine. 2 

Thomas Gorges was deputy governor. He was a young man 
of accomplished education and of great social and moral worth. 
He was assisted by seven councillors ; the state officers, properly 
so called, consisted, in addition to the governor, of a chancellor, 
or chief justice; a marshal, who commanded the militia; a treas- 
urer ; an admiral, who had charge of the naval force ; a master 
of ordnance, to whom military stores were intrusted ; and a 
secretary. The latter office the governor took upon himself. 
He, with his six councillors, constituted a supreme court of 
judicature, and also, with eight deputies chosen by the several 
counties, formed a legislative assembl} r . Such, in brief, was the 
constitution adopted under the charter of the Province of Maine. 3 

The Kennebunk River divided the Province into two dis- 
tricts, — the east and the west. The first u general court" was 
opened at Saco on the 25th of June, 1640. But four council- 
lors were present. It is worthy of notice, that one John Win- 
ter, a trader, was indicted for charging a profit of more than five 
per cent upon the cost of the goods he sold. 

Packs of wolves were howling through the forest. A tax of 
twelve pence was assessed upon every family between Piscata- 
qua and Kennebunk, to be paid in bounties for each wolf killed. 
All parents in the western district were also ordered to have 
their children baptized under penalty of being summoned to 
appear before the court, and answer for the neglect. 4 

1 "Williamson's History of Maine, vol. i. p. 273. 

2 Williamson's History of Maine, vol. i. p. 277. 

3 See this Constitution more minutely developed by "Williamson, vol. i. p. 281, 
and in Sullivan's History of Maine. 

4 "Wolves then abounded all along the coast. The town of Wells was infested 
with them. Their hideous howlings made night terrible to the settlers. The lit- 



108 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Sir Ferdinando Gorges had looked with special interest upon 
the pleasantly located little settlement at Agamenticus. On 
the 10th of April, 1641, he organized a territory here, which, 
from the description, we infer to have been six miles square, 
into a town, or borough. The inhabitants were allowed to elect 
a mayor and eight aldermen, and to manage their own internal 
affairs. About a year after this, on the 1st of March, 1642, he 
erected the borough into a city, extending the charter over a 
region embracing twenty-one square miles. This forest city 
was on the north side of the river. It had an ocean front of 
about three miles, and extended seven miles back from the 
river's mouth. 1 He called this city Gorgiana. 

The officers of the city government were, a mayor, twelve 
aldermen, and twenty-four common councilmen. It is estimated 
that at this time there were seventy-seven Christian ministers 
in New England who had been driven from home by persecu- 
tion ; and there were about fifty towns or villages. 2 The rela- 
tions with the Indians were continually growing more threat- 
ening. This was mainly caused by unprincipled traders and 
wretched vagabonds, who were ranging the coast and country 
in all directions beyond the reach of law, inflicting the most 
intolerable outrages upon the natives. The governors of the 
colonies, and the many good Christian men in the settlements, 
were anxious to do everything in their power to* secure just 
treatment for the Indians ; but it was impossible for them to 
restrain the reckless adventurers who crowded to these shores. 

In addition to the danger to which the colonists were exposed 
from the angry attitude assumed by the Indians, there were also 
continual disputes arising in respect to boundaries, with the 
Dutch in New York, and the French in Canada. Influenced by 

tie stock on. the farms was always in peril, and every precaution was necessary to 
guard against their attacks. They were the worst enemies that the pioneers had 
to encounter. Hitherto they had had free access to the coast ; and it was impos- 
sible to drive them away from the old ground, while new temptations were offered 
to them in the flocks of sheep and cattle which were rapidly being introduced into 
their territories. Every settler was interested in their extermination, and at this 
court it was ordered that every family should pay twelve pence for every wolf 
that should be killed." — History of Wells and Kennebunk, by Edward E. Bourne, 
LL.D. 

1 Hazard's Historical Collections, vol. i. p. 480. 

2 Collections Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. i. p. 247. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



109 



these considerations, the colonists of Massachusetts, Plymouth, 
Connecticut, and New Haven, entered into a confederacy in the 
year 1643. 1 The Province of Maine was not a member of this 
confederac}^. It is said that this was in consequence of the 
strong royalist and Episcopal tendencies of its rulers. 

The French called their dominions in North America, includ- 
ing Canada, Acadia, and Louisiana, b}^ the general name of New 
France. For its government, Cardinal Richelieu formed an 
association called the Company of France. 2 It was estimated 
that about sixteen thousand souls had emigrated to these re- 
gions. The intolerance of the court in England had roused the 
Commons to an appeal to arms. This at once checked the tide 
of emigration. The people, who had been fleeing from the 
tyranny of the crown, were now disposed to remain at home, 
and fight the battles of freedom on their own soil. So many 
returned to England, that during the next twenty years the 
New England colonies lost more from returning emigrants than 
they gained by accessions from the mother country. 3 

The people of these colonies were generally republicans in 
their political principles, and dissenters from the Established 
Church of England in their ecclesiastical relations. Their sym- 
pathies were consequently warmly with the Commons in its war- 
fare against the Crown. The Commons, in gratitude, voted, in 
the year 1642, that the merchandise of either country should be 
exchanged free of duty. 4 

Jealous of the power of the king, and of the grants or patents 
which he had conferred upon his favorites, the} r appointed the 
Earl of Warwick, governor-general, and high admiral of all 
the American Plantations. He was to be assisted by a board 
of sixteen commissioners. They were enjoined to watch with 
care that the colonists were protected in the true Protestant 
religion and in the exercise of all their political rights. 

Gov. Gorges, a partisan of the king, was much annoyed by 
the attitude which public affairs were assuming. He determined 
to leave the Province of Maine, and return to England. The 

1 Winthrop's Journal, p. 276; Hubbard's New England, p. 465. 

2 History of the French Dominions, by Thomas Jeffreys, p. 101. 

3 History of New England, by Daniel Neal, p. 218. 

4 Hist. Coll. by Eben. Hazard, p. 494. 



110 



THE n I STORY OF MAINE. 



administration of affairs was intrusted to George Cleaves, as his 
deputy. Cleaves selected Portland for his residence, then called 
Casco Peninsula. 1 

He speedily summoned a court at Casco, that he might inform 
himself more minutely respecting the affairs of the Province ; 
but he found himself at once in conflict with the government 
Gorges had established. Richard Vines convened a council at 
Saco. In the controversy which arose, Cleaves sent a friend, 
Mr. Tucker, to Saco, to propose submitting the questions in dis- 
pute to the magistrates of the Massachusetts colony. Vines 
assailed the envoy with abusive language, threw him into 
prison, and did not release him until he gave bonds to appear 
at the next court at Saco. 2 

Though Sir Ferdinando Gorges had now reached his three 
score years and ten, his zeal for the crown was such, that, 
in the civil war then raging, he joined the royalist army of 
Prince Rupert during the siege of Bristol. The great events 
transpiring in England threw British affairs everywhere into 
some degree of confusion. It would only bewilder the reader 
to endeavor to explain all the entanglements. There seems to 
have been for some time quite a conflict between Cleaves at 
Portland and the court at Saco. 

In the year 1647 Richard Vines had returned to England. 
At a session of the court holden by Mr. Cleaves, the Piscataqua 
plantations were formed into a town called Kittery. Its ter- 
ritory, at that time, embraced not only the present town of 
Kittery, but also North and South Berwick, and Elliot. It 
would seem, from the following curious memorial presented to 
the court at that time, that " woman's rights " were not then 
very highly respected : — 

" The humble petition, of Richard Cutts and John Cutting, showeth, that 
contrary to an act of court which says, 1 No woman shall live on the Isles of 
Shoals,' John Reynolds has brought his "wife hither with an intention to live 
here and abide. He hath also brought upon Hog Island a great stock of 
goats and swine, which, by destroying much fish, do great damage to the 
petitioners and others ; and also spoil the spring of water upon that island, 
rendering it unfit for any manner of use. 

1 Hutchinson's History, vol. i. p. 163. 

2 Hubbard's History of New England, p. 369. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Ill 



" Your petitioners therefore pray, that the act of court may be put in 
execution for the removal of all women from inhabiting there; and that said 
Reynolds may be ordered to remove his goats and swine from the island 
without delay." 

The court ordered the removal of the swine, but decided, as 
to the complaint against the Avife, " It is thought fit by the 
court, that, if no farther complaint come against her, she may 
enjoy the company of her husband." 1 

Ferdinando Gorges died two years before the execution of 
his royal master, Charles I. In the year 1635 Razilla, governor 
of Acadia, died. Two of his subordinate officers struggled to 
succeed him in the command. One of these, Charles de la 
Tour established himself at the mouth of the River St. John. 2 
The other, D'Aulney de Charnisy, took his residence about a 
hundred and fifty miles west, on the eastern side of the Penob- 
scot, at the point now called Castine. 

The valleys of these two rivers were inhabited by two quite 
powerful Indian tribes. The king of France, involved in a War 
with Spain, paid but little attention to the quarrels of two offi- 
cers in the wilderness of the New World, separated from France 
by an ocean three thousand miles in width. The strife between 
the officers was imbittered from the fact that D'Aulney was a 
Catholic, and was sustained by the powerful influence of the 
Jesuits. La Tour was a Protestant, and looked for countenance 
and aid to the Puritans of New England. 

He sent from his settlement on the St. John, an agent, 
M. Rochet, to propose free trade between the colonies, and the 
co-operation of Massachusetts in the endeavor to drive D'Aulney 
from the Penobscot. The result was, that free trade was intro- 
duced, but the military alliance was postponed. 3 

The Jesuit influence was such that the Protestant, La Tour, 
had no chance of obtaining support of the throne of France, in 
his conflict with his Catholic competitor. The Jesuits succeeded 
ere long in obtaining a royal edict, which denounced La Tour 

1 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. vii. p. 250. 

2 There are two De la Tours mentioned in this history, — Claude, the father, and 
Charles, the son. 

3 Hazard's Historical Collections, vol. i. p. 198; Journal of John "Winthrop, 
p. 265. 



112 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



as an outlaw and a rebel. Thus encouraged, D'Auiney fitted 
out an expedition against his opponent, of four vessels, with five 
hundred men. He blockaded the harbor of La Tour, cut off all 
his communications, and reduced the garrison to the greatest 
* distress. 

In the night of the 12th of June, La Tour and his wife 
escaped from the blockaded port, and proceeded in a vessel to 
Boston. He was a man of persuasive address, and he exerted 
all his powers to induce the government of the colony to aid 
him with a military force. There was quite a division of senti- 
ment in the colony, upon this subject. Some were warmkv in 
favor of espousing his cause ; for he showed them his commission 
from the French cabinet, appointing him the king's lieutenant- 
general in Acadia. La Tour's friends in the Massachusetts 
Colony urged that lie was the legitimate ruler, and that their 
commercial interests, and their religious principles, alike de- 
manded that they should support his claims. 

But the opponents urged, that they could not be certain as to 
the exact justice of the case ; that the French cabinet had man- 
ifestly vacillated ; that it was to be feared that La Tour's Prot- 
estantism was mainly the absence of all religion ; and that it 
was not for the honor of Massachusetts to engage in war, as the 
followers of a French adventurer. 1 

All the settlements in the Province of Maine were much agi- 
tated by this question. The deputy governor wrote, from his 
residence at Kittery Point, to Gov. Winthrop of Massachusetts, 
under date of June 28, 1643. In this letter he says, — 

" Right worthy Sir, — I understand by Mr Parker, you have written 
me by Mr. Shurt, which, as yet, I have not received. It cannot be un- 
known to you what fears we are in, since La Tour's promise of aid from you. 
For my part, I thought fit to certify so much unto you; for I suppose that 
not only these parts which are naked, but all north-east, will find D'Aulney 
a scourge. He ha th long waited, with the expense of near eight hundred 
pounds per month, for an opportunity of taking supplies from his foe; and", 
should all his hopes be frustrated through your aid, you may conceive where 
he will seek for satisfaction. 

"If a thorough work could be made, and he be utterly extirpated, I 
should like it well: otherwise, it cannot be thought but that a soldier and a 

1 See these arguments in full, Haz. Coll., vol. L p. 502-516. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



113 



gentleman will seek to revenge himself, having five hundred men, two ships, 
a galley, and pinnaces well provided. But you may please conceive in what 
manner he now besieges La Tour. His ships lie on the south-west part of 
the island, at the entrance of St. John's River, within which is only an 
entrance for ships. On the north-east lie his pinnaces. It cannot be con- 
ceived but he will fortify the island, which will debar the entrance of any 
of your ships, and force them back, showing the will, not having the power 
to hurt him. 

" I suppose I shall sail for England in this ship; I am not yet certain, 
which makes me forbear to enlarge at this time, or to desire your commands 
thither. 

11 Thus in haste I rest your honoring friend and servant, 

"Thomas Gorges." 1 

After much deliberation, the Massachusetts magistrates in- 
formed La Tour, that, though they could take no active part in 
the conflict, he might purchase or charter ships, and enlist as 
many volunteers as he pleased. It was all, however, to be done 
at his own expense. He at once chartered four vessels for two 
months, at the price, for the four, of two thousand six hundred 
dollars. One hundred and forty-two men, sailors, and seamen 
were placed on board, with thirty-eight pieces of ordnance. 
The little fleet was well furnished with provisions and ammuni- 
tion. 

To raise the needful money, he mortgaged his fort at St. 
Johns, with all its ammunition and stores, and also all his real 
and personal estate in Acadia. The squadron, thus equipped, 
sailed on the 14th of July, 1643. It would seem that he had 
five vessels in his fleet ; the "Clement," in which he had entered 
Massachusetts Bay, and the four vessels he had chartered, 
namely, 44 The Seabridge," " The Philip and Mary," 44 The In- 
crease, " and 44 The Greyhound." 2 

It will be perceived that this trouble took place in Acadia a 
3^ear or two before some of the events in Maine, which we have 
already described. 

i Hazard's Hist. Coll., vol. i.p. 498. 2 Hubbard's History, vol. i. p. 150. 



CHAPTER VII. 



COLONIAL JEALOUSIES AND ALIENATIONS. 



Conflict between La Tour and D'Aulney — Its Strange Result — Attack of 
Wannerton — Madame La Tour — D'Aulney attacks the Fort at St. John — 
Heroic Defence of Madame La Tour — Her Capture and Death — Treason of 
La Tour — Gov. Godfrey — Purchases of Indian Chiefs — Boundary Disputes 
— Final Settlement — Submission of Godfrey — Ecclesiastical Condition of 
Maine — Sullivan's Testimony — Dutch Settlers — Savage Insolence. 

"FT would seem that La Tour made a sudden and furious 



-L attack upon the vessels of D'Aulney, and drove them from 
their station, and chased them into the Penobscot. 1 Here 
D'Aulney ran two of his vessels aground, and quite a brisk 
action took place, in which several Frenchmen were either 
killed or wounded on each side ; but not a man from the Massa- 
chusetts Colony was hurt. The chartered vessels returned to 
Boston within the allotted time. La Tour brought with him a 
ship of D'Aulney's, which he had captured, freighted with val- 
uable furs. 2 

D'Aulney was very indignant in view of the aid the Massa- 
chusetts Colony had rendered La Tour. He wrote a very angry 
letter, to which the governor replied, — 

" Had we been molested in the right of free trade, as you threatened us, 
we should not have been backward to do ourselves justice. But the colony 
government of Massachusetts has, in fact, taken no measures, nor granted 
any commission, against you. To admit La Tour to enlist and hire forces 
with his own money, violates no sound political rules. It is a mere attri- 
bute of our independence, while the laws of Christian duty require us to 
relieve all distress. Yet surely nothing would be more grateful to our wishes 
than reconciliation and peace." 3 

1 So say both Sullivan and Hutchinson. Winthrop says they were driven to 
Port Royal. 

2 Hubbard's New England, p. 483. 

3 "Williamson, vol. i. p. 314. See also Hubbard's New England, p. 483. 




114 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



115 



D'Aulney applied to the court of France for aid, to take 
revenge upon Massachusetts. He represented that the French 
colonies in Acadia were in danger of destruction, from an 
expedition which Massachusetts was fitting up against them ; 
he also resolved to put a stop to all intercourse whatever be- 
tween Massachusetts and La Tour. Situated as he was, between 
them on the Penobscot, he could, with his ships, easily inter- 
cept any vessels passing along the coast. 

Three gentlemen of distinction from the English colonies 
embarked for La Tour's port on the St. John River, to settle 
some pecuniary claims. These were Vines of Saco, Shurt of 
Pemaquid, and Wannerton (or Wanerton as Winslow spells the 
name) from New Hampshire. When they reached the Penob- 
scot, D'Aulney caused their arrest and imprisonment. It was 
with much difficulty, that, after several days of confinement, 
they obtained their release. Neither of these gentlemen had 
any connection with the Massachusetts Colony. They were 
detained simply as Englishmen. 

Wannerton was an impetuous man, who was thrown into a 
fever of passion by the outrage. The envoys continued their 
voyage to the St. John. There they learned that D'Aulney 's 
garrison at Castine, or Biguyduce as the place was then called, 
was very feeble. Wannerton engaged a party of twenty men 
to accompany him to the Penobscot, and take vengeance upon 
D'Aulney. They were all thoroughly armed. D'Aulney had 
a well-stocked farm about five miles from his fort. The aven- 
gers landed in their boat, and marched to the buildings, which 
were not far distant from the shore. It was a time of piracy and 
robbery of every kind. 

It would seem that the laborers saw the approach of the 
armed band, and rushed into the house for defence. Wanner- 
ton led his party, and knocked at the door. It was opened, and 
immediately a volley of bullets was discharged from within 
upon the assailants. Wannerton fell mortally wounded ; 
another of his party was struck by a bullet, and one was shot 
dead. The men in the house, having offered this resistance, 
threw down their arms, and surrendered. 

The torch was applied. The house and all the outbuildings, 



116 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



with the furniture, the tools, and the farming stores, were laid 
in ashes. All the animals were killed. Nothing was left 
behind ' but smouldering ruins and utter desolation. The 
destruction was entire. The proud avengers scorned to take 
any boot}^. 1 

D'Aulney's rage passed all bounds ; though Wannerton acted 
solely upon his own responsibility, taking individual vengeance 
for the affront he had received, D'Aulney breathed threatenings 
and slaughter against all the English. He proclaimed loudly, 
that he Avould make prize of every English colonial vessel he 
could find east of the Penobscot River ; and he issued commis- 
sions to that purport. The governor at Boston addressed to 
him a letter of remonstrance. After reminding the enraged 
Frenchman of many acts of aggression of which he had been 
guilty, he added, — 

" Yet I inform you that no hostile act against either French or Dutch is 
allowed. La Tour cannot expect any more succors from this place. A mer- 
chant's trade is permitted between us and St. John; and rest assured it will 
be protected." 2 

That which is done in a passion is seldom well done. D'Aul- 
ney soon became convinced that he had committed a blunder. 
The French Government was not disposed to enter into a war 
with England, upon the issue which their irate officer, in the 
wilds of Nova Scotia, had raised. D'Aulney was mildly re- 
buked b}^ the French cabinet, and was ordered to maintain 
friendly relations with all the English. 3 

But, on the other hand, the French Government gave its sup- 
port to the Catholic D'Aulney, in opposition to the Protestant 
La Tour. The latter and his wife were denounced as traitors, 
and orders were given for their arrest. Madame La Tour was 
apparently a woman of sincere piety, and conscientiously a 
Protestant. She was then in Boston, having recently arrived 
there on her way from France to St. John. 

On the 4th of October, 1644, D'Aulney sent an envoy, M. 
Marie, with an imposing retinue of ten attendants, to negotiate 

1 Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, p. 125. 

2 Williamson, vol. i. p. 315. 3 Winthrop's Journal, p. 356. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



117 



a treaty with the government of Massachusetts. Gov. Win- 
throp endeavored to bring about a reconciliation between the 
two antagonistic French parties, and to secure a safe return 
of Madame La Tour to her husband. But M. Marie angrily 
replied, — 

"No! nothing but submission will save La Tour's head if he be taken; 
nor will his wife have any passport to St. John. She is known to be the 
cause of his contempt and rebellion. Any vessel which shall admit her as 
a passenger will be liable to arrest." 

Under these circumstances the governor decided to stand 
entirely neutral. It is, however, evident that his sympathies 
were with La Tour. A commercial treaty was signed, and both 
parties agreed to abstain from all hostile acts. 1 

The inhabitants of Maine greatly rejoiced over this result. 
They were quite defenceless, and were in much fear that the 
reckless, passionate D'Aulney would seize their vessels, and 
plunder their settlements. Capt. Bayley, the master of the 
ship which brought Madame La Tour from France, had engaged 
to leave her at St. John. Instead of this, he had landed her 
at Boston. She could now return to St. John only by equip- 
ping a force which would enable her to cope with the enemy. 
She prosecuted for damages. The court, after a four-days' 
trial, granted her a verdict for ten thousand dollars. With this 
sum she chartered three London ships, and proceeded safely to 
her home. 

D'Aulney was exceedingly chagrined. He had fully ex- 
pected to make her his captive. His anger against the Massa- 
chusetts Colony was renewed. He denounced the governor as 
having violated the treaty by allowing the ships to be chartered. 
He obtained information that La Tour was absent on a cruise 
in the Bay of Fundy ; that there were but fifty men left in gar- 
rison, and that they had but a small supply of food and ammu- 
nition. 

Early in the spring, when winter breezes still lingered, and 
snow covered the ground, he took a ship to capture the works 
at St. John. He sailed, with his well-equipped war-vessel, 



1 Journal of John Winthrop, p. 357. 



118 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



from the Penobscot. Soon he overtook a New England vessel 
which was bound to the St. John with supplies. Regardless 
of the commercial treaty, he seized the vessel, landed the crew 
in an open boat upon a desolate island, and in his cruel rage 
abandoned them, without even leaving them the means of kind- 
ling a fire. Very thinly clad, they succeeded in constructing a 
miserable wigwam, where they suffered severely from cold and 
hunger. Here they remained ten days, until they were taken 
off, and sent home in an old shallop. 

D'Aulney entered the harbor at St. John, moored his ship 
opposite the fort, and opened a vigorous fire. But Madame La 
Tour was already there. She was a true heroine. Her intre- 
pidity was sufficient to quadruple the strength of the" feeble 
garrison. She caused the fire to be returned, and with so much 
skill, that, in a short time, the deck of D'Aulney's vessel ran 
red with blood, and was strewed with the mangled bodies of 
the dead and dying. Twenty were killed and thirteen wounded. 
Every shot from the fort struck the ship. Her hull was shat- 
tered. The water was rushing in at the shot-holes ; and still 
the deadly fire was kept up without intermission, while the gar- 
rison behind strong ramparts remained unharmed. 

D'Aulney was effectually repulsed. To save his ship from 
sinking, he hastily warped her under shelter of a bluff, beyond 
the reach of cannon-shot. Having repaired his damages, buried 
his dead, and dressed the terrible wounds inflicted by cannon- 
shot, he spread his sails, and, greatly crestfallen, returned to 
Castine. 

Massachusetts was justly incensed at the gross violation of 
the treaty in seizing a New England vessel. An envoy was 
promptly sent to D'Aulney demanding explanation and satisfac- 
tion. There was an angry and unsatisfactory interview. The 
enraged Frenchman, losing all self-control in his reckless 
charges, said, — 

" You have helped my mortal enemy in aiding La Tour's wife to return 
to St. John. You have burned my buildings; you have killed my animals. 
I warn you to beware of the avenging hand of my sovereign." 

The envoy with dignity replied, — 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



119 



' 1 Your sovereign is a mighty prince ; he is also a prince of too much 
honor to commence an unjustifiable attack; but, should he assail us, we trust 
in God, who is the infinite Arbiter of justice." 

The only result of the conference was the establishment of a 
sort of truce until the next spring. It was evidently impossible 
to maintain peace and free trade with both of these French 
generals, who were so bitterly hostile to each other. A little 
more than a year passed away, with occasional diplomatic cor- 
respondence. In September, 1646, three commissioners arrived 
in Boston from D'Aulney, and demanded four thousand dollars 
damages for losses which he professed to have received from the 
English. The governor and his magistrates, on the other hand, 
deemed a larger sum due to them. 

While this diplomacy was in progress, the shrewd and implaca- 
ble Frenchman was gathering his forces for another attack upon 
St. John. It is said, that, through the treachery of the Cath- 
olic priests, he kept himself carefully informed of the precise 
condition of affairs there. Taking advantage of La Tour's 
absence on a cruise to obtain supplies, he suddenly entered the 
harbor with a strong naval force, and assailed the fort by a can- 
nonade from his ships, and by storming it, at the same time, on 
the land side. The walls were scaled, and with the loss of 
twelve men killed and many wounded, on the part of the assail- 
ants, the fort was taken. 

All the inmates were mercilessly put to the sword, with the 
exception of La Tour's wife, who was taken captive. The 
plunder which the victor seized, consisting of materials of war, 
plate, jewels, and household goods, exceeded fifty thousand dol- 
lars in value. This ruin of La Tour caused great loss to many 
New England merchants to whom he was indebted. 

The fate of the virtuous and heroic Madame La Tour was 
very sad. She was a beautiful and accomplished lady, of un- 
blemished piety. Catholic persecution had driven her from 
her native land, and from the many friends who surrounded her 
there. Her new home in Acadia was now in ruins. All her 
estate had vanished. Her husband was outlawed and a wan- 
derer, without the slightest prospect of ever again regaining his 
fortunes ; and she was a captive in the hands of a proud and 



120 



THE BISTORT OF MAINE. 



implacable enemy. Her heart was crushed. Day after day she 
drew visibly nearer the grave. In three weeks her spirit took 
its flight, and entered, we trust, that world where the weary 
are at rest. 

We regret to add that La Tour subsequently proved himself 
to be a man utterly devoid of principle. He went to Boston. 
The tale of his impoverishment and his woes excited the sym- 
pathies of the kind-hearted Bostonians. Several of the mer- 
chants furnished him with a vessel, and with goods to the value 
of about two thousand dollars, to enable him to trade with the 
natives along the coast. They manned the vessel with a crew 
of Englishmen and Frenchmen. It was a generous deed of 
charity. 

In midwinter of 1647, La Tour sailed from Boston. When 
he arrived off Cape Sable, in Nova Scotia, the ingrate conspired 
with his own countrymen, and, seizing the vessel and cargo, 
drove the English ashore. In the conflict La Tour, with his 
own pistol, shot one of the Englishmen in the face. These 
unhappy men, thus turned adrift upon the rocky and ice-bound 
coast, would inevitably have perished but for the humanity of 
those whom we call savages. 

After fifteen days of awful suffering they chanced to meet a 
small band of Mickmac Indians. These barbarians treated them 
with all the kindness which Christianity enjoins. They took 
the shivering, starving creatures to their wigwams, warmed 
their half-frozen limbs, and fed them with delicious cuts of ven- 
ison. The Indians, having thus taken in the strangers, and 
given food to the hungry, and drink to the thirsty, and clothing 
to the naked, furnished them with a pilot to guide them along 
the sinuous coast to their distant home. This was in May, 
1646. 1 

La Tour, with his stolen vessel, disappeared. No one knew 
where he went. For two years he was not heard from. The 

1 " If they had not, by special providence, found more favor at the hands of 
Cape Sable Indians than of those French Christians, they might all have perished; 
for, having wandered fifteen days up and down, they, at the last, found some In- 
dians who gave them a shallop with victuals, and an Indian pilot ; by which means 
they came safe to Boston about three months after." —Hubbard's New England, 
p. 498. 



THE BISTORT OF MAINE. 



121 



fortress of D'Aulney on the Penobscot, was, at that time, the 
most prominent resort of the Roman Catholic missionaries from 
France. D'Aulney was zealous in that cause, and for some 
time was the undisputed ruler of Acadia. After three years 
he died. In one year after his death, La Tour returned, and 
married his widow, and entered upon the possession of his rich 
inheritance ; a striking illustration of the truth of the oft-quoted 
remark, that the romance of fact is more strange than that of 
fiction. 

La Tour was now re-instated in all his former possessions ; 
and yet he made no effort to pay his former creditors. He 
seemed to surrender himself to a life of conviviality. He sel- 
dom left his province. Several children were born to him. The 
French were at this time in occupancy of settlements at Pen- 
obscot, Mount Desert, Machias, 1 and St. Croix ; but none of 
these settlements were in a flourishing condition. 

It will be remembered that the Province of Maine was 
divided into four political sections. Gorges' region extended 
from the southern border to the Kennebunk ; then on the east 
came Ligonia ; beyond that was the Sagadahoc territory ; on 
the extreme east came the region between the Penobscot, and 
Passamaquoddy Ba} r , which was called Penobscot. Civil war 
was raging in England. All political matters were in a state 
of the greatest uncertainty. The people of Maine were much 
discouraged. 

Under these circumstances a general court was convened at 
Wells in October, 1648. Edward Godfrey was re-elected gov- 
ernor, and four councillors were appointed. The government, 
thus organized, addressed an earnest petition to England for 
directions in their political affairs. A year elapsed before any 
answer came. The only tidings they received were, that Sir 
Ferdinando Gorges was dead, and that no instructions could be 

1 "Mount Desert was so named by Champlain, in 1605. The English named it 
Mount Mansell, in honor of one of their distinguished naval officers. It has, how- 
ever, retained the name of Mount Desert. The island has ever been celebrated * 
for the boldness of its shores, the beauty of its scenery, and the excellence of its 
harbor. The French Jesuits, who landed there in 1613, called it St. Saviour." — 
Memorial of PophcCm Celebration, p. 74." 



122 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



expected from the parent country while distracted with the 
tumult of civil war. 1 

Gov. Godfre}' was a very peculiar man ; bombastic, vain, and 
arrogant. He usually prefaced his proclamations or addresses 
with these words : " To all Christian people to whom these 
presents shall come, greeting in our Lord God everlasting." 

" Still," writes Mr. Bourne, " Gov. Godfrey is worthy of commendation 
for the persevering and indomitable spirit which he manifested in what he 
considered to be right, and for his courage in seating himself down in York, 
an entire wilderness, with none to whom he could look, in his solitude, for 
any help which the emergencies of his condition might require. He located 
himself there in 1630, building the first house in that place. He was the 
founder of York. What his motive was in making such a selection for a 
habitation does not appear. Possibly the fishing business might have 
tempted him to the adventure. No location could have been better for that 
purpose. His house was on the north side of the river. But thus away 
from the intercourse and business haunts of men, he would be but little 
likely to grow in the virtues of social life, or in the necessary qualifications 
for gubernatorial authority." 2 

For three years the affairs of the Province were administered 
by the provincial government as above organized. One tribunal 
was legislative, judicial, and executive. Pemaquid, which had 
been settled a quarter of a century, was the principal plantation 
of the Sagadahoc territory. It was the great resort of fishing 
and trading vessels as they ran up and down the coast. Indi- 
viduals were very busy in purchasing large tracts of land from 
Indian chiefs. They were not particular in their inquiries as to 
the right of the chiefs to sell these extensive tracts 

John Brown, in 1625, purchased of two chiefs, on the eastern 
shore of Pemaquid, a region extending along its southern bor- 
der from Pemaquid Falls to Brown's house, and running back 
into the country twenty-five miles. It embraced nearly the 

1 "The nature of Gorges was generous, and his piety sincere. He sought 
pleasure in doing good; fame, by advancing Christianity among the heathen; a 
durable monument, by erecting houses, villages, and towns. When the wars in 
England broke out, the septuagenarian royalist buckled on his armor, and gave 
the last strength of his gray hairs to the defence of the unfortunate Charles." — 
Bancroft, vol. i. p. 429. 

2 History of Wells and Kennebunk, by Edward E. Bourne, p. 21. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



123 



whole of the present towns of Bristol, Nobleborough, Jefferson, 
and a part of New Castle. 

About the year 1662, three other chiefs sold Walter Phillips 
a large portion of the same lands, and all the land on the west 
bank of the Kennebec, from Winnegance Creek to the sea, and 
west to Casco Bay. Christopher Lawson purchased of a chief 
nearly the whole of the territory now covered by the town of 
Woolwich. Thomas Clark and Roger Spencer bought of a 
chief the whole of Arrowsic Island; John Richards bought 
of a chief the whole of Jeremisquam Island. Such sales were 
continually made. 1 

We know not what right the chiefs had to sell these extended 
territories, or what price was paid for them, or the circum- 
stances under which the chiefs were induced to sell. During a 
period of sixteen years all the lands on both sides of the Ken- 
nebec, and all the islands in the vicinity of the mouth of that 
river, were bought of Indian chiefs. Such purchases were 
obviously liable to great abuses. Both the Massachusetts and 
Plymouth Colonies had very judiciously prohibited such traffic, 
without the license of the legislature. There were no such 
restrictions in Maine. 

In these pretended sales by the chiefs, the same lands were 
often embraced in different deeds. The boundary-lines inter- 
sected each other. The same lands were sold by different 
chiefs. Inextricable confusion ensued. There were conten- 
tions and lawsuits innumerable. The state of things was 
deplorable. There were scarcely any legal titles, and no courts 
were organized with powers to adjust these difficulties. 

The Penobscot region, it will be remembered, was claimed 
both by the French and the English. The French called it a 
part of Acadia ; the English called it a part of New England. 
La Tour, who succeeded D'Aulney, governed this region with 
military absolutism, establishing no civil tribunals. 

The Massachusetts Colony brought forward a new claim to 
all the land in Maine, south of a point near Portland. This 
was by virtue of her charter, which conferred upon her all the 
territory within the space of " three English miles northward 

1 Williamson's History of Maine, vol. i. p. 330. 



124 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



of the river Merrimack, and to the northward of any part 
thereof." Now, it was found that the source of the Merrimack 
was far north among the hills of New Hampshire, and that a 
line running from that point due east to the ocean would strike 
the coast not far from where Portland now stands. This led 
to a very serious dispute between the two Provinces. Massa- 
chusetts appointed commissioners to ascertain with the greatest 
accuracy the northernmost head of the Merrimack River, and to 
run a line thence due east to precisely the same latitude on the 
Atlantic coast. 

These commissioners testified upon oath that they found, on 
the 1st of August, 1652, the head of the Merrimack, where it 
issued from the lake called " Winnepuseakik," 1 in the latitude 
of 43°, 40', 12". The three additional miles extending into the 
lake would allow three additional minutes to the distance. 2 

Against this claim Gov. Godfrey, of the Province of Maine, 
entered an indignant remonstrance. In his protest to the Gen- 
eral Court of Massachusetts, he wrote, — 

" An attempt to hold the Province of Maine under your charter, or by 
any other legal title, without the pretence of purchase, prior possession, or 
anterior claim, and also without the people's consent, is the height of injus- 
tice. Hitherto you have declared yourselves satisfied with your own pos- 
sessions, as bounded on a line parallel with the Merrimack, three miles distant 
from its source and its northerly bank, following its meanders to its mouth; 
whereas you are now bursting your bounds, and stretching your claims 
across provinces to which till lately no man, however visionary, so much as 
imagined you had any right." 

To this the General Court of Massachusetts replied, — 

" Worshipful Sir, — Our patent by divine Providence continues to be 
firmly established under the great seal. Though the grand patent of Plym- 

1 "Williamson suggests that this was probably Lake "Winnipiseogee. It may 
have been what is now called "Newfound Lake," with which the latitude would 
more nearly correspond. 

2 Hazard's Collections, vol. i. p. 571. 

The report of the commissioners of survey, given at the May session of the 
General Court, was in the following words: — 

"At Aquahattan, the head of the Merrimack, where it issues out of the lake 
called Winnepuseakik, on the 1st of August, 1652, we found the latitude of the 
place 43°, 40', 12", besides those minutes allowed for the three miles farther north, 
which extend into the lake." — Historical Collections by Ebenezer Hazard, vol. i. 
p. oil. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



125 



outh has been dissolved, ours, sanctioned by a royal charter, has success- 
fully encountered every attack. Kor do we now claim an acre beyond its 
true limits. And, had you attentively examined its articles, you must be 
satisfied with the correctness of our construction. For several years the 
extent of our jurisdictional rights was not fully understood; and so long as 
doubts remained we were disposed to forbear, though we have never aban- 
doned the pursuit of our utmost claim and right. 

" In your resistance, probably a majority of the provincial inhabitants are 
your opponents; for they are greatly desirous of being united with us, and 
they richly deserve our protection and assistance. We are bound to inform 
you that the inhabitants and lands over which you claim to exercise author- 
ity are within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and that we demand our 
rights. If, however, neither rights nor reasons will induce you to hearken, 
we shall continually protest against all further proceedings of yours, under 
any pretended patent or combination whatever." 1 

Such, in brief, was the reply of Massachusetts. It will give 
the reader a clear idea of the nature of the conflict which had 
arisen. Gov. Godfrey angrily replied. This led to the appoint- 
ment by the Massachusetts government of three commissioners 
to confer with Gov. Godfrey and his council. They met at 
Kittery Point. Reconciliation was impossible, as both parties 
were inexorable. The commissioners then issued a proclama- 
tion to the people of Maine, informing them that Massachusetts 
would extend her jurisdiction over that portion of the territory 
which she claimed, and promising them full protection in their 
estates and all other rights. 

Gov. Godfrey and his council issued a counter proclamation, 
denouncing the conduct of Massachusetts in the severest terms. 
Still the General Court at Boston, in its October session of this 
year, declared its northern boundary or limit to commence 
three miles north of the head of the Merrimack River ; to extend 
directly east on that parallel, passing above the northern sources 
of Piscataqua or Salmon Falls River ; thence crossing the Saco 
near the mouth of Little Ossipee, which was about twenty miles 
from the sea, it touched the most southerly bend of the Pre- 
sumpscot, and terminated at Clapboard Island, about three 
miles eastward of Casco peninsula. 

In the prosecution of this claim, the General Court of Massa- 



1 Hazard's Collections, vol. i. p. 564. 



126 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



chusetts sent two experienced shipmasters to ascertain the pre- 
cise latitude sought for on the coast. They fixed the point 
upon the northern extremity of the little island we have men- 
tioned in Casco Bay. Here they marked the letters M. B. on 
several trees, and also chiselled them into a rock about a quarter 
of a mile from the sea. 1 Six gentlemen were appointed to 
organize a government in the country south of this line. 2 On 
the 15th of November, 1652, 3 four of them met at Kittery, and 
sent out their summons to the inhabitants to meet the next 
morning at the house of William Everett, for the purpose of 
establishing a court of justice. There was much diversity of 
opinion respecting the adverse claims of Maine and Massachu- 
setts. Negotiations were protracted through four da}^s, during 
which angry passions were excited, and there was much mutual 
recrimination and abuse. At length forty-one persons were 
induced to subscribe to the following declaration : — 

" We, whose names are under written, do acknowledge ourselves subject 
to the government of Massachusetts Bay, in New England." 

The commissioners, having thus triumphed, announced to the 
people that their rights would remain untouched, and that they 
were entitled to all the privileges of citizens of Massachusetts 
without being required to take the oath of submission. They 
then proceeded to Agamenticus, which in their report they 
spelt Accomenticus. The inhabitants were summoned to appear 
at the house of Nicholas Davis to assume the responsibilities, 
and to be invested with the rights, of citizens of Massachusetts. 

The meeting was held on the 22d of November. A few 
were obstinate in their resistance, and a spirited controversy 
ensued. Gov. Godfrey, who resided at this place, led the 
opposition. But, when a formal vote was called for, a large 
majority was found in favor of seeking the protection of the 
salutary laws of Massachusetts. It was very certain they had 
nothing to lose by the change, and something, at least, to gain. 
The governor, finding himself entirely outvoted, yielded, and 

1 Eecords, Resolves, \nd Journals of Massachusetts Government, voi. ii. p. 240. 

2 Hutchinson's Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 150. 
s Williamson, vol. i. p. 343. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



127 



with fifty others took the oath of allegiance to the government 
of the Massachusetts Colony. 1 

The territory of Maine, thus annexed to Massachusetts, was 
called " The County of Yorkshire." Agamenticus received the 
name of York, from that city in England, which, twelve years 
before, had been surrendered by the royalists to the parliamen- 
tary forces, after one of the most bloody battles of the civil 
war. A county court was established, to be held alternately at 
York and Kittery. 

It was universally admitted that the Massachusetts commis- 
sioners had discharged their duties with admirable wisdom, and 
with triumphant success. They were richly rewarded for their 
services, received a vote of public thanks, and a valuable present 
of wild lands. At the next general court of elections at Bos- 
ton, two deputies from Maine represented the county of York- 
shire. Other towns rapidly came into this arrangement, such 
as Wells, Saco, and Cape Porpoise. 

The energy of the Massachusetts government soon began to 
develop itself. The inhabitants of the three last-named towns 
were required within a year- to construct a road wide enough 
for the passage of carts from house to house, within the town 
limits ; and also to connect their several towns with paths suf- 
ficient for woodmen or horses. 

The ecclesiastical condition of the Province of Maine was at 
that time very discouraging. There was no ordained ministry. 
Though there were probably many individual Christians, who, in 
their humble, unostatentious lives, were developing the spirit of 
that gospel whose fundamental tenet is, " to do justly, love 
mercy, and walk humbly with God," yet the clamor of noisy 
disputants and turbulent fanatics filled the land. Any brazen- 
faced man, however ignorant, however immoral, however atro- 
cious the sentiments he promulgated, could assume the position 
of a religious teacher. Ecclesiastical anarchy reigned. There 
was freedom of speech which no law restrained. 

1 " One town after another, yielding in part to menaces and armed force, gave 
in its adhesion. Great care was observed to guard the rights of property ; every 
man was confirmed in his possessions ; the religious liberty of the Episcopalians 
was left unharmed ; the privileges of citizenship were extended to all inhabitants ; 
and the whole eastern country gradually, yet reluctantly, submitted to the neces- 
sity of the change." — Bancroft, voL i. p. 431. 



128 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



It would seem that the good sense of the majority of the 
people condemned these revolting proceedings of a bold and 
vagabond minority. The General Court of Massachusetts passed 
a law prohibiting any one from publicly preaching, without the 
approbation of the four neighboring churches. Each town was 
also required to support a pious ministry. It is supposed that 
the population of the towns which thus came under the juris- 
diction of Massachusetts amounted to about two thousand one 
hundred. There were many bitterly opposed to this " subjuga- 
tion," as they called it; but the minority was not strong enough 
to present any serious obstacle to the measure. 1 

The year 1651 opened, on the whole, favorably for the inhab- 
itants of New England. By fishing, agriculture, and hunting, 
the settlers obtained a competent support. The laws and 
human rights began to be more respected. Still there was a 
very radical difference in the ecclesiastical and political princi- 
ples of the early settlers of Maine and Massachusetts. Gorges 
and Mason were the avowed enemies of both the civil and 
religious views of the Massachusetts Puritans. They detested 
republicanism, and were strong advocates of the Church of 
England. With candor and truthfulness Mr. Sullivan says, — 

" Gorges and Mason had been considered before the year 1G40 as enemies 
in principle, to the New England Colonies. They were both anti-republi- 
cans, and were strong Episcopalians. They settled no orthodox clergyman, 
according to what the neighboring colonies called orthodoxy; nor did they, 
indeed, before that year, establish or support any kind of government, or 
even attempt to establish any form of worship ; nor did they pay any atten- 
tion to public schools. It was very evident that they held all the Puritan 
regulations in contempt. Their government over their servants, vassals, 
and tenants, from a want of those regulations, became weak and inefficient. 
We therefore find constant complaints of their being plundered by their 
servants, cheated by their agents, and of being deserted by their vassals. 

"Gorges wishing to have the other colonies annihilated, and to have a 
general government over the whole country, urged the point of the king's 
re-assuming the lands granted by his ancestor, and making new grants of the 
whole; and according to this idea, he and Mason having surrendered their 
title, he took the charter in the year 1639, for the Province of Maine." 2 

1 "Williamson's History of Maine, vol. i. p. 356. 

2 History of the District of Maine, by James Sullivan, p. 141. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



129 



It was this underlying hostility between the Puritan and the 
Cavalier, which led the government of the Massachusetts Colony 
to take advantage of the civil war raging in England, to extend 
their charter so far to the east as to embrace the whole territory 
included in the Gorges and Mason patents. The political 
storms raging in Europe raised billows whose surges dashed 
against the rock-bound coast of the New World. 

There was a little group of Dutchmen at the mouth of the 
Hudson River. There were a few English hamlets scattered 
along the coast of Massachusetts and Maine. Beyond the Pen- 
obscot were the straggling settlements, few and feeble, of the 
French. Vast realms, boundless and unexplored, spread out 
towards the west, whose grandeur the imagination was ex- 
hausted in the attempt to explore. One would have thought 
that these few impoverished people, struggling alike against the 
hardships of the wilderness, might have lived in peace as broth- 
ers, helping and cheering one another. They thus might have 
had happy lives, notwithstanding all the ills that flesh is heir 
to. Instead of this, a large portion of their energies were 
expended in shooting one another, burning the houses, devas- 
tating the plantations, and filling the land with the wailings of 
widows and orphans. Thus clouds and darkness ere long be- 
gan to overshadow the sky, and storms to arise, which put an 
end to all hopes of happiness. The English, the French, and 
the Dutch claimed the same territory, and were disposed to 
fight for its possession. 

In the year 1657 the alarming report was circulated that the 
Dutch upon the Hudson were arming the savages of New Eng- 
land, and inciting them to a combined attack of extermination 
against the English settlements alon^ the coasts of Maine and 
Massachusetts. The Indians of Maine were at this time quite 
numerous. They had obtained, both from the French and Eng- 
lish, guns and ammunition. Many of them had become skilful 
marksmen. Being as well armed as the white men, and con- 
scious of a great superiority in numbers, they became bold, very 
exacting, and often insolent. Not unfrequently a gang of half 
a dozen savages on the hunt would approach the log hut of 
some lonely settler. With swaggering air they would take pos- 

9 



130 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



session of the premises, feast themselves to satiety, occupy the 
cabin for the night, and in the morning go on their way, without 
saying so much as 4 4 1 thank you." 

The menacing attitude of the savages became alarming, and 
their depredations intolerable, and the more intolerable, since it 
was fully believed that they were stimulated to these outrages 
by the Dutch authorities at the mouth of the Hudson. The 
public agitation became so great, in view of these facts and 
these rumors, that a convention was held of the commissioners 
of the United Colonies, on the 19th of April, 1653, to take the 
subject into consideration. It was apprehended that the French 
on the east, and the Dutch on the west, were conspiring to crush 
the English between them. The reports were carefully inves- 
tigated. Indians were summoned before the court to give their 
testimony ; and then a very earnest letter was written to the 
Dutch governor requiring an explanation. Indignantly the 
governor replied, — 

' ' There is not one word of truth in the scandalous report raised about 
my conduct. I marvel much at the novel course pursued in placing any 
confidence in the testimony of an Indian. I am ready at any time to make 
explanations, and to any extent within my power." 

This denial of the governor did not satisfy the commissioners. 
Though they separated without declaring war against the Dutch, 
all friendly intercourse between them was interrupted. Indeed, 
the New Haven Colonists were under such apprehensions that 
the Dutch were about to bring down the powerful nation of 
the Mohawks against them, that they sent a petition to Crom- 
well, then Lord Protector of England, that he would aid them 
with a fleet and well-armed troops. 1 

1 Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, voL i. p. 166. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE PKOVINCE OF MAINE ANNEXED TO MASSACHUSETTS. 

Troubles on the Piscataqua— r Career of La Tour — Menaces of War — Measures 
of Cromwell — Conquest of Nova Scotia — Character of La Tour — Trading 
Post on the Kennebec — The Oath Administered — Sale of the Right of 
Traffic — Boundaries of Kennebec Patent — Political Connection between 
Maine and Massachusetts — Code of Laws — Northern Limits of Massachu- 
setts — The Articles of Union — Rev. John Wheelwright — Correspondence 
— Restoration of Charles II. — Petition of Gorges — Charter to the Duke of 
York. 

T"T will be remembered that the Piscataqua River was the 



J- south-west boundary of the Province of Maine. This region 
was one of the favorite resorts of the Indians. Early in the 
spring of 1653, just as the settlers were about to put their seed 
in the ground, the alarming rumor ran along the coast, that more 
than a thousand Indian warriors were upon the upper waters 
of the Piscataqua, resolved to lay all the defenceless settle- 
ments in ashes. It was still supposed, though probably very 
unjustly, that the Dutch governor on the Hudson was instigat- 
ing this movement. The government of the New Haven Col- 
ony despatched agents to England, to implore the protection of 
Oliver Cromwell, who was then in power. The Massachusetts 
Colony promptly ordered Major-Gen. Dennison, with twenty- 
four well-armed men, to reconnoitre the strength and position 
of the foe. 1 

La Tour, whose life had been as varied and eventful as the 
imagination of a romancer could fancy, was now residing at St. 
John, with Madame D'Aulney as his bride. Upon receiving 
his Catholic wife, he had renounced his Protestantism, and thus 
he gathered around him the powerful influences of the French 




1 Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, p. 156. 

131 



132 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



court and the Papal Church. He was a wild, bold, reckless 
adventurer, but slightly influenced by any consciousness of right 
or wrong. The Catholic missionaries had attained a wonderful 
ascendency over the minds of the Indians. It was strongly 
suspected that La Tour was combining the Indians of Canada, 
Nova Scotia, and Maine, to sweep away the English settle- 
ments, and thus vastly to extend his realms. Under these cir- 
cumstances, the General Court of Massachusetts prohibited all 
commercial intercourse with the French on the east, and the 
Dutch on the west, under penalty of the forfeiture of both ves- 
sel and cargo. 

This plunged La Tour and his colonies into great distress. 
They had done but little towards raising food by cultivating 
the land. The savages lived a half-starved life, upon the little 
corn they harvested, esculent roots, fish, and clams. They had 
no provisions to sell. The French, with their trinkets, pur- 
chased the furs of the Indians, which were then in great 
demand. With these they had obtained ample supplies of food 
from the more highly cultivated regions of Southern Maine, 
Massachusetts, and Connecticut. This virtual blockade of their 
ports doomed them to starvation. La Tour, assuming that he 
was unjustly accused of conspiring against the English, bitterly 
remonstrated against this unfriendly act, when there was peace 
between the two nations. 

It did seem to be a very harsh measure, for the Court acted 
upon suspicion alone without any convincing proof. For a time 
the General Court seemed disposed to change its policy. It 
occurred to some, that by treating the French kindly, and win- 
ning their friendship through intimate commercial intercourse, 
the Catholic priests among them might restrain and disarm the 
ferocity of the savage. They therefore loaded a vessel with 
flour and other provisions, and sent it to the St. John River. 

In the mean time the energetic Oliver Cromwell had sent 
three or four war-vessels to Boston, with orders to raise there a 
volunteer force of about five hundred men, for the reduction 
of the Dutch colony on the Hudson. Secret orders were also 
issued, for this military expedition, which was very powerful 
for the time and region, immediately upon the conquest of 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



133 



Manhattan, to turn its arms against the French on the north- 
east, and make an entire conquest of the Province of Nova 
Scotia. Measures were in vigorous operation in Massachusetts, 
for organizing the naval and land force to strike these two col- 
onies by surprise, when the news reached Boston, on the 23d 
of June, 1654, that articles of peace had been signed between 
the English and the Dutch courts, and that hostilities against 
the Dutch colony were immediately to cease. 

The energies of the expedition were turned towards Nova 
Scotia. By the treaty of St. Germain, executed twenty-two 
years before, this country had been surrendered to the French. 
It was one of the arbitrary acts of Charles I. ; but still, accord- 
ing to the laws of nations, it was a legitimate transaction. As 
England and France were at peace, it would be difficult to jus- 
tify the conduct of Cromwell in sending, without any declara- 
tion of war, a military expedition to regain the territory. But 
the Lord Protector assumed that the king had no right to cede 
this territory, in violation of patents which he had granted his 
subjects ; and he affirmed that the purchase-money, of five 
thousand pounds sterling, promised by the French government, 
had never been paid. 1 

The expedition, having set sail, touched at the Penobscot, and 
then proceeded to the St. John, where La Tour had his prin- 
cipal fortress. The force was so strong that at neither place 
was any resistance offered. Indeed, La Tour seemed quite 
indifferent in view of the prospect of the change of European 
masters, so long as his territorial possessions and his personal 
property were respected. The English speedily took possession 
of the whole Province, and placed over it Capt. Leverett, one 
of the -leaders of the expedition, as temporary governor. The 
French court complained of this operation, and for some time 
it was the subject of a diplomatic controversy. The English 
held the region for thirteen years, when, by the treaty of Breda, 
it was re-surrendered to the French. 2 

1 Williamson's History of Maine, vol. i. p. 261. "Williamson presents several 
authorities to substantiate these statements. 

2 Holmes's American Annals, vol. i. p. 301; Hubbard's History of New Eng- 
land, p. 550. 



134 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Soon after this La Tour died. His character was as strange 
as his singular and tumultuous career. He was a man of con- 
siderable ability, of good personal appearance, and of very 
plausible address. Sometimes rich, sometimes poor, sometimes 
a denounced outlaw, and again in favor with the court, he 
seemed quite devoid of any sense of honor, as almost of any 
distinction between right and wrong. Religion was with him 
like a glove, which was to be put on and taken off at his pleas- 
ure. His first wife was apparently a noble woman ; in faith a 
Protestant, and in heart and life a sincere Christian. 

D'Aulney battered down the fortress of La Tour, took his 
wife a prisoner, and kept her in captivity until her death. Upon 
the death of D'Aulney, La Tour rebuilt his fortress, married 
the Catholic widow of his deadly antagonist, surrounded him- 
self with Catholic priests, regained the patronage of the court, 
and lived in comparative power and splendor until he died. He 
left one child, Stephen de la Tour, to whom he bequeathed a 
very large landed estate, leaving many debts unpaid. Crom- 
well confirmed Stephen de la Tour in the possessions he inher- 
ited from his father. He, however, claimed no territory south 
of Passamaquoddy Bay. 1 

The Province of Nova Scotia was considered as of great 
value. The French finally ceded the country to England, and 
Cromwell appointed Sir Thomas Temple its governor. He 
entered upon his office in 1657, and discharged its duties with 
much ability, and with the courtesies of an accomplished gen- 
tleman, for ten years. When the Massachusetts government 
was condemning Quakers, he sent them word that any of the 
Quakers they wished to get rid of, he would cheerfully welcome 
to his Province, and would defray all the expenses of their 
removal. 

It will be remembered that the Colony of New Plymouth 
had established an important trading-post on the Kennebec 
River. For a time the traffic was very lucrative. The Indians 
brought in large quantities of valuable furs, which they sold 
for mere trifles. But gradually the number of traders increased. 

1 Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 190; "Williamson's History 
of Maine, vol. i. p. 162. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



135 



Competition arose. The Indians became better acquainted with 
the value of their furs. Unprincipled adventurers crowded in, 
defrauding the Indians ; and the colony at Plymouth was too 
remote energetically to extend its laws over the distant region. 
A question also arose as to the title of New Plymouth to any 
territory on the Sagadahoc, between Merrymeeting Bay and 
the sea. Indian chiefs were also going through the farce of 
selling lands to individuals, to which the purchasers knew that 
those chiefs had no title. 

It was indeed a chaotic state of society, and the seeds of 
innumerable lawsuits were being sown. Pressed by such em- 
barrassments, the Plymouth Colony decided to sell the right of 
traffic with the Indians on the Kennebec possessions. Five 
prominent gentlemen of the colony purchased this right for the 
term of three years, for the annual sum of about one hundred 
and fifty dollars. 1 These gentlemen were Gov. Bradford and 
Messrs. Winslow, Prince, Millet, and Paddy. But there was 
no end to the complaints with which they were assailed, and to 
the annoyances which they encountered. Still the purchasers 
struggled on, breasting these. difficulties, and at the expiration 
of their lease obtained its extension for three years more. By 
the terms of this renewal it was required that some one of the 
lessees should continually reside within the patent. It was 
deemed necessary to summon the inhabitants of that region, and 
require them to take the oath of allegiance to the new govern- 
ment established in England, and to the laws enacted by the 
New Plymouth Colony. 

A warrant was issued to the inhabitants on the Kennebec, to 
assemble on the 23d of May, 1654, at the house of Thomas 
Ashley, near the banks of Merrymeeting Bay. Mr. Prince, as 
commissioner, met sixteen men there, and administered to them 
the following oath : — 

"You shall be true and faithful to the state of England as it is now 
established; and, whereas you choose to reside within the government of 
New Plymouth, you shall not do, nor cause to be done, any act or acts di- 
rectly or indirectly, by land or water, that shall or may tend to the destruc- 
tion or overthrow of the whole or part of this government, orderly erected 

1 Morton's New-England Memorial, p. 135. 



136 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



or established ; but shall contrariwise hinder and oppose such intents and 
purposes as tend thereunto, and discover them to those who are in place for 
the time being, that the government may be informed thereof with all con- 
venient speed. You shall also submit to and observe all such good and 
wholesome laws, ordinances, and officers, as are or shall be established within 
the several limits thereof. So help you God, who is the God of truth, and 
punisher of falsehood. ' ' 1 

A brief code of laws was also established by the convention. 
All capital crimes, such as treason and murder, were to be tried 
by the General Court at New Plymouth. Minor offences, such 
as theft, drunkenness, profaning the sabbath, and selling intox- 
icating drink to the Indians, came within the jurisdiction of the 
local commissioner's court. Fishing and fowling were declared 
to be free. All civil suits, not involving an amount exceeding 
one hundred dollars, were to be tried before a jury of twelve 
men. 2 

The value of the exclusive right of the fur and peltry trade 
with the Indians was continually decreasing. With the increase 
of population, game was becoming scarce. The Indians grew 
more shrewd in trade, and demanded higher prices. For three 
years, after 1656, the trade was let for an annual rent amount- 
ing to about one hundred and fifty dollars ; and even this 
small sum the lessees declared, on the fourth year, that they 
were unable to pay. At length the monopoly was offered at a 
premium of fifty dollars a year. 

The original patent, granted by the Council of Plymouth in 
England, to the Colony of New Plymouth, consisted of " all 
that tract of land or part of New England in America, which 
lies between Cobbossecontee, now Gardiner, which adjoineth 
the river Kennebec, towards the the western ocean, and a place 
called the Falls of Neguamkike, and a space of fifteen miles on 
each side of the Kennebec. " 

It will be perceived that these boundaries were exceedingly 
indefinite. The location of Neguamkike Falls is uncertain. It 
is supposed that they were about sixteen miles above Cobbos- 
secontee River, near North Sidney. 3 Mr. Williamson writes of 
this patent : — 

1 Records of Plymouth Colony. 2 Hazard's Historical Collections, vol. i. p. 586. 
8 Hist, of New England by Coolidge and Mansfield, p. 1G8, note. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



137 



1 1 Its limits, as ultimately settled, were in the north line of Woolwich, 
below Swan Island, on the eastern side of the Kennebec, through the south 
bend of the river Cobbossecontee, on the western side, and fifteen miles in 
width on either side of the main river, to an easterly and westerly line which 
crosses Wessarunsett River, in Cornville, a league above its mouth; contain- 
ing about one million five hundred thousand acres. ' ' 1 

This grant conferred the exclusive right of trade with the 
natives, and at all times an open passage down the river to the 
sea. For some time the proprietors claimed the whole territory 
to the ocean. This led to litigation, an account of which would 
only weary the reader. In the year 1661 the whole patent 
was sold to a company, for a sum amounting to about two 
thousand dollars. Soon after this the company erected a fort 
at Maquoit. 2 

Years passed slowly away, while the affairs of this remote 
and dreary trading-post continued to languish. No attempt 
was made to establish a plantation there for agricultural pur- 
poses. The government was chaotic, and but little respect was 
paid to laws or rulers. Emigration, for a time, was flowing 
back from the New World to the Old ; and New Plymouth had 
no surplus population to send to the banks of the Kennebec. 

But the political connection now formed between Maine and 
Massachusetts continued, with some slight interruptions, for a 
period of one hundred and sixty-seven years. The salutary 
laws of Massachusetts were gradually accepted by the people. 
The Massachusetts government was administered by a gov- 
ernor, a deputy governor, a council of eighteen, and a house 
of deputies. It was truly a republican government, the rulers 
being chosen by the people. The towns elected the represen- 
tatives. Ten freemen entitled the town to one deputy ; twenty, 
to two. None could have more than two. No one could be a 
deputy " who was unsound in the main points of the Chris- 
tian religion, as held forth and acknowledged by the generality 
of Protestant orthodox writers." 3 Under the colonial charter, 
Maine was never represented by more than five deputies at one 
time. The reader who is interested in the details of the politi- 

1 Williamson, vol. i. p. 237. 

2 Greenleaf's Reports, vol. iii. p. Ill; Sullivan, p. 118. 

3 Records of Massachusetts Government, voL ii. p. 238. 



138 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



cal, ecclesiastical, and military administration, will find them 
quite fully presented in Williamson's excellent History of 
Maine. 

The people who were religiously disposed were encouraged 
by law to congregate and embody themselves into a church 
estate, to elect and ordain their officers, to admit and to disci- 
pline or to excommunicate their members. And yet it was 
declared that no church censure was ever to affect any man's 
property, civil dignity, office, or authority. It must be admitted 
that the practice was not alwaj^s in accordance with these 
avowed principles. The connection between Church and State 
was so intimate in England, that the colonists in their new home 
could not entirely dissever them. 

By a law enacted in 1644, it was declared, that to affirm that 
man is justified by his own works, and not by Christ's righteous- 
ness ; or to deny the immortality of the soul, the resurrection 
of the body, the sacredness of the sabbath, or the authority of 
the magistracy, — tended to subvert the Christian faith, and to 
destroy the souls of men. It was also enacted, in 1640, that it 
was highly penal for men to withhold their children from bap- 
tism. It is a sad comment upon the times, that many were 
severely punished by fines, whipping, and banishment, and some 
few were even executed, for neglecting the baptism of their 
children. 1 

Every ecclesiastic of the order of Jesuits, as "devoted to the 
religion and court of Rome," was ordered into banishment, 
unless he came as a public messenger ; even then he was to be 
banished if he behaved offensively. 

The Quakers were vehemently attacked. They were de- 
nounced as a cursed sect of heretics, pretending to be immedi- 
ately sent from God, and inspired to write blasphemous opinions, 
despising government, reviling magistrates, speaking evil of dig- 
nities, and seeking to- turn people from the true faith. 2 Their 
books were ordered to be burned by the hangman ; they them- 
selves were to be banished, and, if they returned, to be put to 
death. 

The denial of the inspiration of the books of the Old and 



i Williamson, vol. i. p. 380. 



2 Colonial Laws, p. 121. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



139 



New Testaments was punished, first by fine or whipping, and, 
if repeated, by imprisonment and even death. 

There can be no doubt of the sincere desire of the early col- 
onists to establish just laws, and such as would promote the 
public welfare. We must not blame them too severely for not 
being wise above their generation. The progress of the world, 
in the direction of freedom and toleration, has been very slow. 
Many of the enactments were humane ; and, in the general prin- 
ciples of freedom, the colonists were far in advance of most of 
the governments in the Old World. 

In every town a record was ordered to be kept of newly 
arrived emigrants and their business prospects. All strangers 
who were in want, the towns were bound to relieve. The help- 
less poor were to be provided for. All cruelty to brute animals 
was strictly forbidden. Laws were passed to protect the Indians 
in their fishing and hunting grounds. Every town of fifty 
householders was required to employ a teacher to instruct the 
children in reading and writing ; and every town containing a 
hundred families was required to establish a grammar-school, 
where boys might be fitted for college. Heads of families were 
ordered to instruct their servants every week in the principles 
of the Christian religion. It is sad to record that on the statute- 
book torture was allowed, to compel a convicted criminal to 
disclose his confederates. But no such instance of torture is on 
record. It was a law which disgraced the statute-book, but 
which was apparently never enforced. 

The inhabitants of Maine accepted these laws from Massa- 
chusetts. They took but little interest in political questions, 
save as they had a direct practical bearing upon their daily 
lives. Perhaps a large proportion of the Massachusetts Colon- 
ists were men of intelligence and deeply fixed principles, who 
had crossed the ocean that they might enjoy the civil and reli- 
gious institutions which were so dear to them. When they had 
made such immense sacrifices to secure these privileges for 
themselves and their children, it is not strange that they should 
have wished to shut out from their wilderness homes those who 
would bring across the ocean those antagonistic civil and reli- 
gious views, which would promote controversy, discord, and 
strife. 



HO 



THE III STORY OF MAINE. 



But most of the early inhabitants of Maine had been lured 
to that region for purposes of traffic. " I came here," said one 
of them, " not to worship God, but to purchase furs and pel- 
tries." Thus Maine became distinguished for what is often 
absurdly called liberality, but which is, rather, indifference. 
Influenced by such considerations, religious toleration was 
exercised here. Noble as is that spirit, it must be admitted that 
it was then not so much a virtue as the result of circumstances 
which caused men to care for none of those things. Maine 
became the asylum of fugitives driven from the other colonies 
by persecution. 1 

It was in the year 1652 that Messrs. Sherman and Ince re- 
ported that the northern limit of the Massachusetts patent was 
in latitude 42°, 43', 12". In accordance with this report, the 
next summer two experienced shipmasters, Jonas Clark and 
Samuel Adams, were sent to ascertain where this line would 
touch the Atlantic. They found, as we have mentioned, that it 
was at the northern point of an island in Casco Bay, called the 
upper Clapboard Island. Here they cut the marks of the 
Massachusetts boundary on several trees, and also chiselled it 
into a large gray rock. A line running due west from this 
point on the Atlantic, to the Pacific Ocean, then called the 
South Sea, was supposed to be the northern limit of the Massa- 
chusetts patent. 

Unwearied efforts were made to induce the people, on the 
eastern portion of this territory, to yield to the government of 
Massachusetts, as those on the western portion had quite 
readily done. But several men, of commanding influence in 
the vicinity of Saco, were very determined in their resistance. 
The Massachusetts Court tried all the efforts of conciliation 
and menace, for a time in vain. Gradually a number yielded to 
the conviction that their interests would be promoted by the 
annexation. Others were arrested, and were made willing by 
the perils of fine and imprisonment. In 1658 a Massachusetts 
commission opened a session in Lygonia, at the house of Robert 
Jordan in Spurwink. Here most of the male population 



1 Williamson, vol. i. p. 385. 



TEE EI STORY OF MAINE. 



141 



appeared, and took the oath of allegiance. 1 The articles of 
union were in substance as follows : — 

I. All the people in these parts shall be exonerated from their alle- 
giance to Massachusetts, whenever a supreme or general governor shall 
arrive from England. 

II. All their opposition and other past wrongs shall be pardoned and 
buried in oblivion. 

HI. The same privileges shall be secured to them as are enjoyed by 
other towns, particularly Kittery and York. 

IV. Appeals shall be allowed in all cases to the General Court, when 
sufficient indemnity is offered for the payment of costs. 

V. None of the privileges hereby granted and secured shall ever be 
forfeited by reason of any differences in matters of religion. 

VI. A transcript of the rights and privileges, generally possessed by 
other towns, shall be sent to these plantations and inhabitants. 2 

The towns of Scarborough and Falmouth were also organized. 
Falmouth had a sea border extending from Spurwink River to 
Clapboard Island, and it ran back eight miles into the country. 

The union of Lygonia to Massachusetts was thus effected, 
apparently to the satisfaction of all parties. It was unques- 
tionably a blessing to the inhabitants of Maine. 3 

On the 27th of October the inhabitants of York, Kittery, 
Wells, Saco, and Cape Porpoise, presented to Cromwell, then 

1 "After passing the ancient plantations of Kittery, York, Wells, and Saco, we 
come to Scarborough, which has never changed its name since its first incorpora- 
tion. It extends towards the east, six miles in width on the coast, to the mouth 
of Spurwink Paver, which seems to cut off, as it bounds, the eastwardly corner 
of the town. 

" Spurwink settlement was and is in the southerly angle of the town towards 
Spurwink River." — Williamson, vol. i. pp. 29, 30. 

2 Williamson, vol. i. p. 392. 

3 Hon. William Willis, one of the most discriminating and accurate annalists, 
expresses the opinion that Massachusetts had no claim over the jurisdiction of 
Maine. He writes, — 

" Massachusetts, taking advantage of the triumph of her principles in Eng- 
land, and dreading and hating the Episcopal power in Maine, under a forced 
construction of the language of her charter, assumed title and jurisdiction over 
all the territory southerly of a line from Lake Winnipiseogee to Casco Bay. She 
was not long in asserting her pretended title. 

"This usurpation of the Bay Colony corresponded with that of the Parlia- 
ment at home; and, though successful, it had no foundation in right. I will not 
say that it was not eventually best for the people here; it resulted in giving them 
a good and permanent government, and stable and just laws." — J. History of TJie 
Laws, Tlie Courts, and the Lawyers of Maine, by William Willis, p. 23. 



142 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Lord Protector, the following very expressive memorial. It 
was a document testifying to their satisfaction with their annex- 
ation to Massachusetts, and praying for its continuance. 

" Our numbers," they said, " are few ; and our dissensions, which have 
been many, owing principally to malecontent loyalists, are happily quieted 
by wholesome laws and watchful rulers. Through their provident care, 
godly persons have been encouraged to settle among us; our affairs have 
become prosperous, and a barrier is opposed to an influx upon us of delin- 
quents and other ill-affected persons, the fugitives from punishment. Our 
pious and reverend friend, Mr. John Wheelwright, some time with us, is 
now in England, whose thorough knowledge of our affairs he will, at your 
highness's command, be happy to communicate." 1 

Rev. John Wheelwright, to whom reference is here made, 
was a man of undoubted piety, an eloquent preacher, but very 
zealous in the enforcement of doctrinal peculiarities, which few 
could fully understand. He affirmed, that the " Holy Spirit 
dwells personally in a justified convert, and that sanctification 
can in no wise evince to believers their justification." 

It seems a pity that the good man could not have been per- 
mitted to indulge to his heart's content in such harmless specu- 
lations. But the authorities of Massachusetts declared these 
views to be Antinomian, denounced them as heretical, and 
banished him from the State in the year 1636. Mr. Wheel- 
wright, at first, removed from Braintree to Exeter, N.H., where 
he settled on land obtained from the Indians, and gathered a 
church ; but, as Massachusetts extended her jurisdiction over 
the territory upon which he had settled, he removed to Wells, 
in Maine, in 1643. 2 He died at Salisbury, Mass., probably 
in 1679, at the age of eighty years. 

The following letter from Mr. Wheelwright throws much 
light upon the nature of the ecclesiastical conflicts of those 

1 Hutchinson's Collection of State Papers, p. 396. 

2 "New Hampshire was about submitting to Massachusetts, in which case 
Wheelwright and his companions would be exposed immediately to a new 
banishment. Gorges had assumed the authority over Maine ; and they could not 
fail to be assured that, under him, they might find a refuge which would not be 
exposed to the spiritual tyranny of Massachusetts." — Bourne's History of Wells 
and Kennebunk, p. 12. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



143 



days, and certainly reflects credit upon both parties in the 
unhappy contention : — 

1 1 Right Worshipful, — Upon the long and mature consideration of 
things, I perceive that the main difference between yourselves, and some 
of the reverend elders and me, in point of justification and the evidencing 
thereof, is not of that nature and consequence, as was then presented to me 
in the false glass of Satan's temptations, and my own distempered passions, 
which makes me unfeignedly sorry that I had such a hand in those sharp 
and vehement contentions raised thereabouts, to the great disturbance of 
the church of Christ. It is the grief of my soul, that I used such vehe- 
ment censorious speeches, in the application of my sermon, or in any other 
writing, whereby I reflected any dishonor upon your worships, the reverend 
elders, or any of contrary judgment to myself. 

"It repents me, that I did so much adhere to persons of corrupt judg- 
ments, to the countenancing and encouraging of them in any of their 
errors or evil practices, though I intended no such thing; and that in the 
synod I used such unsafe and obscure expressions, falling from me as a 
man dazzled with the bufferings of Satan; and that I did appeal from 
misapprehension of things. I confess that herein I have done very sinfully, 
and do humbly crave pardon of your honored selves. If it shall appear to 
me, by scripture light, that in any carriage, writing, word, or action, I have 
walked contrary to rule, I shall be ready, by the grace of God, to give 
satisfaction. Thus hoping that 'you will pardon my boldness, I humbly 
take my leave of your worships, committing you to the good providence 
of the Almighty, and ever remain your worships' in all service to be com- 
manded in the lord. 

" J. Wheelwright." 1 

To this letter, the governor gave a very courteous response, 
assuring Mr. Wheelwright that the court was inclined to release 
him from his banishment. He also sent him a safe-conduct, 
that he might make his appeal to the court in person. Mr. 
Hubbard writes, — 

1 ' But the next court released his banishment without his appearance ; 
and so, if they had overdone in passing the sentence, it might in part help 
to balance it, that they were so ready to grant him a release. Soon after 
this he removed his dwelling; and being invited to the pastoral office in the 
church of Hampton, after Mr. Batchelour's deposition, he accepted the calb 
and tarried with them until his removal to England not long after, where 

1 "We give this letter, as recorded by Hubbard in his General History of New 
England, p. 336. There are several verbal variations in the copy as preserved 
by Wintnrop. 



144 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



he tarried many years, till, upon the turn of times, he came back to Xew 
England again ; after which he was called to Salisbury, where he accepted 
of the pastoral office, in which he continued till the day of his death, which 
happened about the year 16S1." 1 

The government of Massachusetts was the more inclined to 
deal leniently with Mr. Wheelwright, since he was a zealous 
Puritan, and a high-minded and earnest republican. Upon 
visiting England, he was very cordially received by Oliver 
Cromwell. 

The political changes taking place in England were very 
sensibly felt through the remotest colonies of the kingdom. 
The restoration of Charles II., which was one of the most 
memorable events in history, took place in May, 1660. The 
Church of England and the crown of England were so insepar- 
ably united, that the royalists and Episcopalians formed one 
part} 7 . The republicans were almost invariably dissenters. It 
is estimated that the population of the English colonies in 
America then amounted to a little more than eighty thousand 
souls. Of these about five thousand were in the Province of 
Maine ; thirty-eight thousand were in the more southerly parts 
of New England ; in Maryland and Virginia there were, about 
forty-three thousand. 2 

It will be remembered that Ferdinando Gorges was an 
earnest loyalist. He died while in arms in defence of Charles 
II., about two years before the execution of that unfortunate 
monarch. His eldest son, John, succeeded to the titles and 
estates of his father ; but after a few years John died, and the 
succession passed to his eldest son Ferdinando. 

It may be well supposed that Charles II. had no sympathy 
with the dissenters and republicans of Massachusetts. Gorges, 
with several associates, petitioned the king that the grant of 
land in Maine, conferred upon his grandfather and others, 
might be restored to the original proprietors. These petitioners 
consisted of the representatives of Gorges, Mason, Godfrey, 
and others. 

In their petition to the king and royal parliament, they 



1 Farmer says he died Not. 16, 1679. 2 See "Williamson, vol. i. p. 398. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



145 



stated, that, by a grant from the crown, extensive territory in 
Maine had been conferred upon Gorges, Mason, and Godfrey ; 
that they had expended large sums of money in settling and 
improving the realm ; that the government of Massachusetts, 
by menaces and armed forces, had seized the Province, and 
compelled the inhabitants to submit to its jurisdiction ; and 
that the Massachusetts government was strenuously and per- 
sistently endeavoring to organize institutions independent of 
the crown, and hostile to its interests. 1 

To counteract these representations, a delegation of several 
gentlemen appeared from the towns of Maine, stating that they 
had enjoyed, under the government of Massachusetts, great 
prosperity and contentment ; and that the attempt to substitute 
for the laws of Massachusetts the rule of men of inexperience 
in government and doubtful abilities, would surely introduce 
dissensions and anarchy, and would imperil all their interests. 
In the year 1661 the General Court had incorporated the Isle 
of Shoals into a township by the name of Appledore. Though 
the towns of Maine, including those in this organization, were 
entitled to send ten or eleven representatives to the General 
Court, in the spring of 1662 not one was returned. Many 
prominent men were denouncing the administration of the 
Massachusetts government. 

Gorges had returned to the Province, where he had previously 
been deputy-governor. Though he had taken the oath of alle- 
giance to Massachusetts, and had accepted office under her 
government, he entered upon measures decidedly hostile to her 
claims. 2 He even appointed several men to office, and, in con- 
junction with others, transmitted a petition to the king, urging 
him to send over a governor-general for all of New England, 
including New York.? 

These measures somewhat alarmed the General Court of 
Massachusetts. William Phillips of Saco was appointed com- 
mander-in-chief of the provincial militia. The following proc- 
lamation was also sent to the inhabitants of the county of York- 

1 Belknap's History ISTew Hampshire, vol. i. p. 300. 

2 Collection of State Papers, by Thomas Hutchinson, p. 322. 

3 Hutchinson's History of New England, p. 234. 

10 



146 



THE HISTORY OF MA IX E. 



shire, as the portion of Maine subject to Massachusetts was 
then called : — 

"TO THE INHABITANTS OF YORKSHIRE. 

u You and every of you are required in his Majesty's name to yield 
faithful and true obedience to the government of this jurisdiction, estab- 
lished among you, according to your covenant articles, until his Majesty's 
pleasure be further known." 

A court was also instituted, consisting of three commission- 
ers, who were instructed to appoint or confirm in office any one 
in whom they could repose confidence ; and also to punish 
every one who pretended to hold office independently of the 
General Court, unless he derived his authority directly from 
the king. 1 

Several persons were punished by this court, for opposition 
to the Massachusetts government. Among others of note and 
influence was Rev. Robert Jordan, the Episcopal clergyman at 
Spurwink. He was arraigned by the grand jury fcr saying, 
u The governor of Boston is a rogue, and all the rest thereof, 
rebels and traitors against the kmer." 2 

The radical difference in both civil and religious views, be- 
tween the tyrant Charles EL, and the republican General Court 
of Massachusetts, could, by no possibility, be compromised. 
While maintaining the semblance of courtesy, each regarded 
the other with distrust and alienation. The king had no confi- 
dence in the loyalty of the colonists, and they knew full well 
that he was eagerly watching for opportunities to curtail their 
privileges. The ear of the king was always on the alert, to 
listen to charges against them, while he was generally too busy 
to attend to any defence which they might offer against their 
accusers. 

' ' So violent and successful were the persecutions against the rights and 
claims of Massachusetts in particular, that she not only feared the loss of 
Xew Hampshire and Maine, but began to be apprehensive of having her 
own charter taken from her. Therefore the General Court appointed a 

1 Records of Massachusetts Government, vol hi. p. 59. 

2 History of Saco and Biddeford, p. 92. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



147 



committee of both branches, to keep it and the duplicate in separate 
places, thought by them most safe and secure." 1 

The apprehensions of the General Court of Massachusetts, 
in reference to the hostility of the king, were soon realized. 
On the 11th of January, 1664, a royal missive to the General 
Court was granted to Gorges, ordering that court immediately 
to restore to him the Province of Maine, or to assign the reasons 
for declining to do so. It was also rumored, at the same time, 
that several armed ships were about to cross the ocean to enforce 
the authority of the king, and to convey to New England a 
governor-general of his appointment. 

The exultant court of Charles II., then triumphant over the 
spirit of religious dissent and the opposition to roj^alty, had 
conceived the project of forming a grand empire, to consist of 
twelve provinces, on the shores of the New World. In the 
accomplishment of this plan, the king intended to seize the pos- 
sessions of the Dutch on the Hudson, and to bring all the east- 
ern provinces of New England under his complete control. In 
those days might was right. On the 12th of March, 1664, 
Charles II. granted to his brother James, who enjoyed the title 
and emoluments of Duke of York and Albany, all the territory 
held by the Dutch upon the River Hudson and upon Long 
Island. The vast territory was called, in honor of the Duke's 
English possessions, New York. 

The duke was a greedy man. Looking eagerly into the 
ancient patents which had been conferred and annulled, he 
decided that there was no valid grant for the territory between^ 
the River St. Croix and Pemaquid. He therefore induced his 
royal brother to include this region, of thousands of acres, in 
the charter conferred upon him. The boundaries of this por- 
tion of his grant are described as follows : — 

" The region includes all that part of the mainland of New England be- 
ginning at a place known by the name of St. Croix, next adjoining to New 
England, thence extending along the seacoast to a place called Pemaquid, 

1 This remarkable fact is fully sustained by the Records, Resolves, and Jour- 
nals of the Massachusetts Government, vol. hi. p. 89; also in Hutchinson's His- 
tory of Massachusetts, p. 210; and Political Annals of the United Colonies, by 
George Chalmers, p. 254. 



148 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



and up the river thereof to its farthest head, as it tends to the northward; 
thence up the nearest to the River Kennebec, and so upward to the shortest 
route to the river Canada northward. ' ' 1 

This domain, truly princely in extent of territory, has been 
denominated " The Duke of York's Property," " The Territory 
of Sagadahoc," "New Castle," and "The County of Corn- 
wall." 2 Charles II., by thus making his brother James the 
territorial proprietor of such immense possessions on the Hud- 
son, and also on the eastern borders of New England, was 
shrewdly preparing the way for constituting him viceroy not 
only of those realms, but of all the domain between. 

1 History of Connecticut, by Benjamin Trumbull, vol. i. p. 366. 

2 Summary of British Settlements in North America, by William Douglas, 
vol. i. p. 381. 



CHAPTER IX. 



POLITICAL AGITATIONS. 

The Duke of York — The Koyal Commissioners — Conflict between the Com- 
missioners and the General Court — Their Unfriendly Report — Tyranny of 
Charles II. — Character of George Cleaves — The Petition — Efforts of the 
Commissioners — Treaty with the Indians — War between France and Eng- 
land — National Antipathies — Baron Castine — His Character and Career 
— French Influence over the Indians — Anarchy in Maine — Ambition of 
the Duke of York — War between England and Holland — Jocelyn's De- 
scription of Maine. 

THE Duke of York, who subsequently became King James 
the Second, retained possession of his Sagadahoc ter- 
ritory about twenty-five years. The duke was the second son 
of Charles I. Upon the death of his brother Charles II., he 
ascended the throne, where he developed the character of a 
thorough despot, and of a still more inexorable fanatic. When 
subsequently driven from the throne by William, Prince of 
Orange, he repaired to France, and his American possessions 
reverted to the British crown. 

The region of Maine made but slow advances under the rule 
of its new proprietor, whether duke or king. The duke was an 
intense Catholic, and, when he attained the crown, was un- 
wearied in his endeavors to bring England again under the 
ecclesiastical sway of the papal court. The Protestant religious 
principles of the Dutch, who were established at the mouth of 
the Hudson, excited strongly his jealousy and antagonism. He 
co-operated with his unscrupulous brother Charles II. in send- 
ing an expedition of four frigates and about three hundred 
armed men, to wrest the colony at Manhattan from the Dutch. 
The feeble garrison was quite unable to resist so formidable a 
force, and promptly capitulated. This was on the 27th of 

149 



150 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



August, 1664. 1 Col. Richard Nichols, who with Sir Robert 
Carr had command of the expedition, took the control of affairs 
as deputy governor, declaring, at the same time, that he was 
authorized to exercise the same command over the territory of 
his royal highness at Sagadahoc. 2 

A commission of four men was appointed to investigate the 
state of affairs in the New England Colonies. Col. Nichols was 
at the head of the commission. He was a frank, genial, cour- 
teous man ; and, though of course an advocate for royalty and 
episcopacy, his integrity and candor rendered him generally 
popular. 

Sir Robert Carr, the next on the list, was a man of violent 
temper, who hated both republicanism and any dissent from the 
principles of the Church of England. His haughty and domi- 
neering spirit quite unfitted him for the delicate task in which 
he was employed. It is said that he prepared a report filled 
with the most bitter accusations against the colonists. Fortu- 
nately he died soon after his return, and his philippics perished 
with him. 

George Cartwright, another of the commissioners, was en- 
dowed with strong mental powers ; but he was unamiable, 
morose, and suspicious in his disposition. He was a bitter foe 
of the republican colonists, and drew up a very unfriendly 
report to be presented to the king. Here again God seemed to 
interpose in behalf of the feeble settlements. He was captured 
by a Dutch ship, on his way home, and lost his report beyond 
recovery. 

1 We read with some surprise the following statement from Hubbard: "Di- 
vine Providence seemed to favor the design, in that so considerable a place of 
strength, and so easily tenable, was so speedily reduced without tbe loss of one 
man's life; and, without doubt, the right and title of the English to the place was 
beyond all exception, which possibly made the former possessors unwilling to 
dispute it with their swords' point." — General History of Xew England, by Rev. 
William Hubbard, p. 578. 

2 '• The county (of York) embraced all the settlements between the Kennebec 
and Penobscot Rivers, over which the governor of New York exercised almost 
despotic jurisdiction. Quite a large commerce was carried on with Europe, and 
the other English colonies on the coast, of which masts, lumber, furs, and fish 
constituted the principal exports, and for which wines, liquors, coin, and various 
kinds of merchandise, were received in exchange." — History of Laws, &c, of 
Maine, by William Willis, p. 33. 



i 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



151 



Samuel Maverick was the fourth of the commissioners. He 
is represented as a stubborn royalist, implacable in his hostility 
to the political and religious principles of the Pilgrims. He 
had for some time resided in Massachusetts, and was grievously 
offended because the high merit, which he supposed himself to 
possess, was not recognized by the people in conferring upon 
him offices of dignity and influence. He was apparently watch- 
ing for an opportunity to strike the colonists a deadly blow. 1 

When the appointment of these commissioners was made 
known, it created great anxiety. Early in May, 1665, they 
entered upon their task at Boston. 2 As was to have been 
expected, there speedily arose a downright altercation be- 
tween that body of royalists and the republican General Court. 
The commissioners demanded an answer to the question, " Do 
you acknowledge the royal commission to be of full force for all 
the purposes contained in it ? " 

The court evaded a categorical answer, saying, " The civil 
power is conferred upon this colony through his Majesty's 
charter. We prefer to abide by that." 

The dispute ran high, and even violence was menaced. The 
commissioners, unsustained by any popular support, dissolved 
their session. Col. Nichols returned to his gubernatorial chair 
in New York, and the others departed to investigate affairs in 
New Hampshire and Maine. They, however, threw a parting 
shot upon the government of Massachusetts, threatening them 
with the doom due to rebels and traitors. 

The events which we are now recording took place, it will 
be perceived, before the death of Charles II. and the accession 
of James. When Charles had become firmly seated upon his 
throne, he issued a decree, denouncing the act of the General 
Court of Massachusetts in extending its jurisdiction over the 
Province of Maine, and demanding its restoration to the heirs of 

1 The commission is given entire in the Appendix to Hutchinson's History of 
Massachusetts. See also, for the character of the commissioners, Williamson's 
History of Maine, vol. i. p. 409. 

2 This commission was procured by the earnest solicitation of the proprietors 
of Maine and Isew Hampshire, supported by the exertions of all the enemies of 
Massachusetts, and was aimed at tihe power and influence of that colony. — History 
of Portland, by William Willis, p. 151. 



152 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Ferdinando Gorges. The General Court replied, defending its 
coarse in receiving the provincials of Maine under the govern- 
ment of Massachusetts. They also boldly declared that they 
would not surrender the jurisdiction of Maine until the king's 
will were more distinctly known. 

The three commissioners who repaired to Maine commenced 
operations in the settlements at the mouth of the Piscataqua 
River. There were quite a number of royalists here, who were 
desirous of being taken again under the government of the 
king. 1 

In a letter from Charles II. to the inhabitants of the Province 
of Maine, dated June 11, 1664, he wrote, — 

" Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the grandfather of the present proprietor, and 
a generous promoter of foreign plantations, obtained a royal charter of 
Maine, and expended in settling it more than twenty thousand pounds; and 
yet was wholly prevented from reaping the fruits of his expenditures and 
labors by the unhappy civil wars, wherein he, though advanced in age, 
bravely engaged in his master's service. 

"In the mean time his opponents, intoxicated with success, as we under- 
stand, and deaf to th» voice of justice, have given countenance to measures 
by which the provincials have been brought within the jurisdiction of Mas- 
sachusetts Bay, and the proprietary deprived of all the issues and profits of 
his property/' 

In conclusion, this royal mandate of the 11th of June, 1664, 
said, — 

" Since the restoration, he, by his commissioners, has endeavored to 
repossess himself of his province, and, two years since, proclaimed his 
Majesty king, established courts, and gave to many the oaths of allegiance. 
But the government of Massachusetts prohibited all further proceedings of 
those commissioners till they had orders from the supreme authority of the 
kingdom. 

' ' We have therefore taken the whole matter into our princely considera- 
tion, and have thought fit to signify our pleasure in behalf of Ferdinando 
Gorges the present proprietor, and do require you to make restitution of 
the Province to him or his commissioners, and deliver him or them peaceable 
possession thereof; or otherwise, without delay, show us reasons to the con- 
trary." 2 

1 "Now, it must be minded that, as to the Province of Maine, there were two 
sorts that pretended a ri£,ht to the government thereof ; one that derived their 
power from Sir Ferdinando Gorges' title, the other derived theirs from the Gen- 
eral Court of Massachusetts." — Hubbard's History of New England, p. 584. 

2 Hutchinson's Collections of State Papers, p. 386. 



TEE EISTORT OF MAINE. 



153 



The commissioners visited Kittery in June, 1665. The peo- 
ple were assembled, and were informed that if they persisted 
in adhering to the government of Massachusetts they would be 
punished with the utmost severity, as rebels and traitors. We 
have not space to enter into the details of the measures which 
were adopted. They were arbitrary and tumultuous. It was 
a reign of terror. Oaths were administered, and many were 
induced to petition the king for a new colony charter. But 
still the measures of the commissioners were exceedingly un- 
popular. The people generally were well satisfied with the 
virtual republic which they enjoyed. The commissioners seemed 
disposed to gather all power into their own hands. 

George Cleaves of Casco, whose name is sometimes spelled 
Cleve and sometimes Cleeves, was one of the most distinguished 
men of these days. He was an ardent royalist, and was warmly 
attached to the Church of England. But he was very ambi- 
tious and self-reliant. The despotic course pursued by the 
royal commissioners was offensive to him. He enjoyed a higher 
degree of liberty under the institutions of Massachusetts, than 
under the iron rule which the commissioners would introduce. 
He therefore, with twenty-one of his neighbors, drew up a 
petition to the king. This petition is one of the most import- 
ant documents of the times, as it throws so much light upon 
the political aspect of affairs. The petition, slightly abbrevi- 
ated, was as follows : — 

" The humble petition of the inhabitants of Casco, in the State of Maine, 
represents, agreeably to your Majesty's command, our several reasons why 
we could not submit to Mr. Gorges. 

"But first, to our most gracious father, we, your humble subjects, in- 
habiting a wilderness in the northern parts of your dominions, would return 
our most dutiful and hearty thanks for your princely care of us and of our 
children. Required by your Majesty to render submission to Mr. Gorges, 
or assign our reasons for declining it, we are frank to say we have no dis- 
position to oppose his government, whenever our obedience is expressly com- 
manded by your Majesty. 

" In our union, however, with Massachusetts, we all pledged our alle- 
giance to her government, till our royal sovereign should otherwise determine 
and direct. Yet we have found by happy experience, as your Majesty very 
justly intimates, that her maxims of policy, prudence, and moderation, and 
her principles of amity and justice, so much the causes of her own eminence, 



154 



TIIE II 1ST OR Y OF MAINE. 



have, since our short connection with her, been the means of our content- 
ment and prosperity, far beyond what we have enjoyed during any former 
period of the same length. 

" The commissioners, nevertheless, forbid our submission to her govern- 
ment and likewise to Mr. Gorges. And in return she (the Massachusetts 
government) withholds our allegiance from them. So unhappily situated, 
we humbly entreat your Majesty not to believe us disloyal because our 
names are not found on the petition for a change of government or rulers, 
as we have no just complaint either against Mr. Gorges or Massachusetts, 
being taught by the best authority, that 1 obedience is better than sacrifice,' 
and contentment is our duty wherever the allotment of God in his provi- 
dence, and your Majesty's commands, shall cast us. 

" Threatened as we are for not signing the petition, and submitting to 
the commissioners, we beseech your Majesty to take these reasons and our 
case under your fatherly eye, and give us directions; for it is the design of 
our hearts to act correctly and uprightly, and we would rather submit to 
whatever government may be appointed over us, than to contend or direct 
what it should be. " 1 

The commissioners spent about two months, mostly at York, 
Scarborough, and Falmouth, making energetic efforts to revo- 
lutionize the government. They then followed along the coast 
to the Duke of York's territory at Sagadahoc, or, as it was 
then frequently called, New Castle. About this time several 
Dutch families moved from New York, and settled upon the 
banks of the Sheepscot and the Damariscotta. 2 

The commissioners opened their court on the 5th of Septem- 
ber, 1665, at the house of John Mason, on the east bank of the 
Sheepscot River. They organized the territory into a county, 
which they called Cornwall. The inhabitants were summoned 
to appear and take the oath of allegiance to the new govern- 
ment. But twenty-nine presented themselves. The county of 
Cornwall was limited on the west, by the Sagadahoc. It, how- 
ever, included twenty or thirty families upon the island. 

It seems to have been the decision of all subsequent jurists, 
that the commissioners proved themselves utterly incapable of 

1 Hutchinson's Historical Collections, p. 397. 

2 "The government under the duke had never much energy or force in it, and 
would very soon have been subverted by the Massachusetts, if the measures pur- 
sued in England in order to take away the colony charter, and the hostility of 
the natives in this country , had not prevented it. " — History of the District of Ma ine, 
by James Sullivan, p. 29. 



TEE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



155 



discharging the duties which had devolved upon them. No 
provision was made for the enactment of laws, for the imposi- 
tion of taxes, for education or religious instruction, or for the 
public defence. 

It is supposed that there were about three hundred families 
within the county, and some of the settlements were forty years 
old. The commissioners spoke of the settlers in very contempt- 
uous terms, underrating their numbers, and describing them as 
mere fishermen and fugitives from justice, who were entirely 
unaccustomed to the restraints of government. 1 

In justice to the commissioners, it should be stated that they 
entered into a very judicious treaty with the chiefs of the 
neighboring tribes. The Indians had been atrociously wronged 
by vagabond and unprincipled white men. It could not be con- 
cealed that these wrongs were goading them into a hostile 
attitude. 

It was agreed between the commissioners and some of the 
Indian chiefs, that, if any wrong were inflicted upon an Indian 
by one of the English, the Indian, instead of taking private 
revenge, should appeal to the courts for redress. If, on the 
other hand, an Englishman were injured or defrauded by an 
Indian, he should make his appeal to the Indian chiefs. 

Contemptuously as the commissioners spoke of the settlers in 
the region of the Sagadahoc, they gave a very glowing account 
of the attractiveness of the country. 2 

" The islands, harbors, and outlets upon the coast," they wrote, "are 
richly stored with great fish, oysters, and lobsters. The interior abounds 
with ducks, geese, deer, and other game, and also with strawberries, rasp- 
berries, gooseberries, barberries, and several sorts of bilberries, in their sea- 

11 This report maybe found in full in Thomas Hutchinson's Collection of State 
Papers, p. 424. 

2 " In its native wildness the peninsula of Sagadahoc nmst have been a spot 
of singular beauty. An open forest of mighty towering pines below, and hilltops 
of overgrown beech and oak above, and on either side fringed with a clear, broad, 
and grassy margin, terminating in a sand beach, sweeping from point to point on 
its landward and sheltered northern point, must have commended the place as a 
favorite camping-ground to the savages, as well as a site to the earliest English 
colonists as a home. The indications are decisive that this peninsula was ever a 
place of distinguished attraction to the natives." — Address of Eufus K. Sewall, 
Esq., at the Popham Celebration, p. 137, 



156 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



son. We found also many kinds of oaks and pines, and the chestnut and 
walnut trees, sometimes for four or five miles together." 1 

Soon public attention was absorbed on both sides of the At- 
lantic, by the war which broke out between France and Eng- 
land. Very extensive preparations were made by the British 
cabinet, for the conquest of Canada. 2 Massachusetts was not 
reluctant to engage in this enterprise.' The militia of Massachu- 
setts, at this time, amounted to four thousand foot and four 
hundred horse. The enlistments for the conquest of Canada 
were not made until October. It was then deemed too late in 
the season to attempt a northern campaign. The war was short, 
and mostly waged in other regions. But, in its results, it was 
very unsatisfactory to New England. The treaty of Breda was 
concluded on the 31st of July, 1667, with both France and 
Holland. England received the Dutch colony on the Hudson, 
but resigned Nova Scotia to the French. 

The English Protestants brought with them to this New 
World a very strong antipathy to that bigoted Catholicism 
which had been the bane of the Old World. They did not love 
their French neighbors, and they were greatly annoyed at the 
recession of the Acadian provinces to France. The troubled 
times very speedily obliterated all the traces which the king's 
commissioners had left behind them. 

England was far away. The attention of her contemptible 
king, Charles II., to the remote colonies, was spasmodic and 
transient. It was to Massachusetts alone, that the widely scat- 
tered inhabitants of Maine could look for sympathy in time of 
peace, or for aid in war. 

There were no bonds of union between the Catholic French 
of Nova Scotia, and the Puritans of New England. They dif- 
fered in language, religion, and in all the habits of social life. 
Those very traits of character, which admirably adapted the 
French to win the confidence of the Indians, excited the repug- 
nance of the English. The pageantry of their religious wor- 
ship, which the strong-minded Puritans regarded as senseless 

1 Hutchinson's Collections of State Papers. 

2 American Annals, by Abiel Holmes, vol. i. p. 489. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



157 



mummery, was well adapted to catch the attention of the child- 
ish savages. The Frenchman would build him a wigwam, 
marry an Indian wife, perhaps two or three ; adopt the dress 
of the tribe, and, in all the habits of his life, step at least half 
way down to meet the savage. Thus the French and the Indi- 
ans lived far more harmoniously together than did the Indians 
and the English. 

In illustration of these views we may mention the case of 
Jean Vincent, Baron of St. Castin or Casteins, as some spell 
the name. He was a gentleman of wealth and rank, born in 
Bdarn, at the foot of the Pyrenees. Naturally fond of adven- 
ture, he had entered the army, and had serve.d with distinction 
against the Turks. 1 When about twenty-one years of age he 
came to this country, and joined a tribe of Indians called the 
Abenakis. 2 He lived with them twenty years, adopting their 
dress, and apparently conforming in all respects to their savage 
habits. But his superior intelligence, his tact, and his adapta- 
tion of himself to all their prejudices, so won their regard, that 
they considered him as more than human, or, to use the lan- 
guage of his biographer, " comme leur Dieu tutelaire." 

He acquired their language perfectly, and married the daugh- 
ter of Madokawando, one of the most distinguished chiefs. 
Some say that, according to the Indian custom, he took several 
wives. He seemed perfectly contented with his lot, declaring 
that he greatly preferred the forests of Acadia to the valley of 
Pyrenees, where he was born. His French biographer writes, — 

" For the first years of his abode with them, he lived in such a manner 
as to secure their esteem to a higher degree than words can describe. They 
made him their grand chief, which constituted him sovereign of the nation. 
By degrees he accumulated a fortune, which any other person would have 
appropriated to his own benefit, by retiring with two or three hundred thou- 
sand dollars in solid gold coin. 

"Nevertheless Casteins made no other use of this wealth than to buy 
merchandise, which he presented as gifts to his brother savages, who, return- 
ing from their hunting expeditions, presented him with beaver skins of triple 

1 Martin's History of France, vol. i. p. 263. 

2 We give the name as spelled by the French. It was often spelled by the 
English, Abenaq^^is. It is said that they belonged to broken tribes who had with- 
drawn from Saco, the Androscoggin, and the Kennebec to Canada. 



158 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



their value. The governor-generals of Canada courted his favor, and the 
rulers of New England feared him. He had many daughters. They were 
all advantageously married to Frenchmen, and each one received ample 
dowries. 

"He never changed his wife. By this he wished to teach the savages 
that God does not love inconstant people. 1 It is said that he endeavored to 
convert these poor natives, but that his words were without effect. It was, 
then, of no avail that the Jesuits preached to them the Christian religion. 
But these fathers were not discouraged, for they considered the baptism of a 
single dying child worth many times more than the pain and the suffering 
of dwelling with this people." 2 

The Indians, who were under the influence of the French, 
readily imbibed their dislike for the English. There was, con- 
sequently, a growing animosity between the eastern and the 
western tribes. There were no very definite boundary limits to 
most of the territories portioned out in those days. In the ces- 
sion of " all Acadia " to France, mention was made of St. 
Johns, Port Royal, La Heve, Cape Sable, and Pentagoet, as 
the French then called Penobscot. 3 The French took possession 
of the whole country, from Cape Breton to Penobscot, and 
erected stockaded forts at the most important points. 

The political affairs of Maine fell into lamentable confusion. 
By the action of the commissioners, the Province was sundered 

1 This certainly seems to indicate that Casteins had hut one wife; hut Drake 
writes, "We do not apprehend that this amounts to a denial that he had but one 
wife. His not changing his wife might be true iu the plural, if he had several, as 
some authors state." — Drake's History of the Indians, book hi. p. 104. 

2 Memoirs de V Ame'rique par Lahontan, 1. ii. p. 29. 

" The site of the town of Castine is one of as much natural beauty as exists 
anywhere in Xew England. With its beauty is connected a harbor of great capa- 
city, and entire security for ships of any supposable size. This town was the first 
in the State that received permanent settlers, on the eastern shore of Penobscot 
Bay. 

" It had been occupied in the seventeenth century by Baron Castine, a French 
gentleman, through thirtj^ or forty years, as a temporary place of traffic with In- 
dians, by exchanging some cloths and trinkets of small value, for beaver and 
other furs. By means of this business he became very rich, and left the fort, 
which had been erected hy him at large expense, and which had protected him 
against hostile attacks of Indians when drunk, as well as against plunderers of 
his goods and moneys at other times." — History of the Law, the Courts, and the 
Laicyers of Maine, by William Willis, p. 189. 

It will be perceived, that, while there is a slight discrepancy in the statement of 
the details of this man's career, there is none as to the prominent facts. 

3 British Empire in America, vol. i. p. 22. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



159 



from its connection with Massachusetts. And then, without 
any sufficient government being organized, it was virtually 
abandoned. Gorges became interested in other matters, and 
the people generally doubted the validity of the justices ap- 
pointed by the commissioners. For three years no representative 
from Maine appeared in the General Court of Massachusetts. 
The General Court did not hesitate to denounce the action of 
the commissioners in the following severe terms : — 

" While the inhabitants were choosing to be under our charter, they were 
deprived of their invaluable privileges, and thrown into the depths of dis- 
order by commissioners who were rather the destroyers than promoters of 
his Majesty's interests and the people's good; men who have cast malignant 
aspersions on our government, and have been the authors of transactions 
for which they had, in fact, no lawful authority." 

Under these circumstances the General Court issued a procla- 
mation, declaring, that, as the people of Maine were in peril of 
being reduced to a confused state of anarch} r , the court counted 
it its duty to God to extend its jurisdiction over the county of 
York as formerly. The transfer was easily made. The last 
court held under the authority of the king's commissioners sat 
in Saco on the 29th of May, 1668. 1 

Col. Richard Nichols, governor at New York, was greatly 
disturbed by these proceedings. It will be remembered that he 
had been appointed deputy governor at New York and Sagada- 
hoc, under His Royal Highness the Duke of York. He wrote 
an angry letter to the governor of Massachusetts. The follow- 
ing extracts will show its spirit : — 

' ' I am not a little surprised to find that you are preparing to usurp again 
the government of Maine. You possess power enough, it is true, to compel 
a submission of your weaker neighbors. And you may feel in duty bound 
to re-establish your courts of law, in answer to the petition of a few unquiet 
spirits, and under a plausible pretence of restoring order and peace. But I 
ought not to be silent in view of measures so directly contrary to the injunc- 
tions of his Majesty's letter. 

' ' Do you presume so much upon his forbearance and clemency as to sup- 

1 Williamson's History of Maine, vol. i. 432. 

" Saco may have contained a hundred and fifty inhabitants when the first 
court ever duly organized on the soil of Maine was held within its limits." — 
Bancroft^ vol. i. p. 337. 



160 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



pose that he will never stretch forth an arm of power to defend his subjects 
from usurpation? Unable myself to visit you before I leave these parts, I 
must express to you my fearful apprehensions, that if you compel an altera- 
tion of government in the Province of Maine, by subverting the present 
establishments, you may, and probably will, be the cause of bitter quarrels 
and even bloodshed. For it is a dictate of reason, it is nature's law, for men 
to defend their rights against all officious invaders. 1 

This letter produced no change in the measures adopted by 
the Government. 2 Four commissioners were sent to restore the 
County of Yorkshire to the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. 3 A 
military escort accompanied them to York, which place they 
reached on the 6th of July, 1668. Here some officers, who had 
been appointed by the king's commissioners, met them with a 
remonstrance. They stated that there were not more than four 
or five men in a town, of any character, who were in favor of a 
return to Massachusetts, and that they were resolved to main- 
tain the authority with which they had been invested. 

The Massachusetts commissioners, who, according to some 
accounts, " entered the Province in a hostile manner, with horse 
and foot," replied, — 

"All your papers and powers our General Court have too thoroughly 
considered to require any re-perusal by us. Those under whom you aspire 
to act, never lawfully possessed the authority which they assumed to exer- 
cise. His Majesty directed Massachusetts either to resign the Province to 
Mr. Gorges, or to assign to him our objections. It is well known we have 
chosen the latter alternative. 

" The cause is still under his royal consideration. And when have we 
been required by our common sovereign, to surrender the administration of 
justice to your commissioners ? By the returns we shall soon ascertain what 
is the public sentiment; and, according to our ability, we shall discharge 
the trust committed to us. If we are opposed, we shall advise upon meas- 
ures which will not be inefficient. ' ' 

The commissioners repaired to the meeting-house, where they 
read their commission to the assembled people, and explained 

1 Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, vol. i p. 212 ; Chalmers' Political An- 
nals, p. 386. 

2 See the letter in full in Thomas Hutchinson's Collection of State Papers, p. 484. 

3 The commissioners appointed were Major John Leverett and Mr. Edward 
Ting, with Mr. Richard Caldron and Major Robert Pike as assistants. — Hub- 
dard's New England, p. 593. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



161 



the purposes of their visit. There was some slight opposition 
manifested by the justices appointed by the royal commission- 
ers. 1 The returns were brought in from five towns. It was 
said that two towns had been prevented from voting by the jus- 
tices. The antagonism between the two parties caused great 
excitement, and several persons were arrested by the Massachu- 
setts officers ; and at length quite angry feelings were elicited, 
and the justices, who had become noisy in their opposition, were 
driven out of the house by an armed force. 2 

In the afternoon they re-appeared, and again entered into 
conference with the commissioners. They requested permission 
to read a letter from the king, dated April 10, 1666, in which 
the king gave directions to his commissioners as to what they 
were to do until further commands were received from him. 
The commissioners replied, — 

"We are commissioned to hold a court, and settle the peace and order of 
the Province. What we have begun, God willing, we shall finish. We are 
fully aware of the irregularities occasioned throughout these eastern towns 
and plantations, in 1605, by the king's commissioners, who were so bold as 
to charge Massachusetts with treachery and rebellion, and to threaten her, 
before the year's end, with the dreadful retributions of our sovereign's 
severity. But through the divine assistance, and his Majesty's power, she 
yet possesses authority, by royal charter, to assert her rights of government ; 
and we fear not to compare her acts of justice and clemency with the words 
of those who can make words only their boast." 

The government was then organized, and the commissioners 
returned to Massachusetts with their report. They received a 
vote of thanks, and ample remuneration for their services. 3 In 
May, 1669, three deputies from Maine took their seats in the 
General Court of Massachusetts, and the restoration of the 
Province seemed to be permanently settled. Gorges made but 
slight if any efforts to recover his inheritance. Williamson says 
that the eastern planters, being generally republican and Puritan 
in their principles, were well satisfied with the change. 4 

1 See the details in Hubbard's History of New England, p. 597. 

2 Hutchinson's Collection of State Papers, p. 526. 

3 The Report will be found in Hubbard's New England, p. 596. 

4 Williamson, vol. i. p. 440. 

11 



162 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



But in this world there is no end to troubles. Scarcely was 
this question settled, when a new and portentous difficulty 
arose. The French, being in full possession of Nova Scotia, 
and the territory now of Maine as far as the Penobscot, laid 
claim to the region as far west as the Kennebec River. It was 
suspected that the Duke of York, who was an intense Catholic, 
and who detested the political and religious principles of the 
Puritans, favored these claims. 1 

It was seriously apprehended in Massachusetts, that the crown 
might sell the entire eastern patent to the French. A new sur- 
vey was ordered. The most popular measures were adopted to 
win the cordial support of the inhabitants of the Province. 
The surveyors reported that a line running due east from the 
most northern source of the Merrimac, to which, by the patent, 
three miles still farther north was to be added, would cross the 
Kennebec or Sagadahoc near where Bath now is, and that it 
would strike White Island in Penobscot Bay. 

But again Avar was declared between England and Holland. 
The two angry nations were clutching each other by the throat. 
The Dutch, in July, 1673, recovered the fort at New York. 
With renewed activity, and with boldness ever characteristic of 
Massachusetts, the government re-organized the militia, and 
endeavored, in all ways, to consolidate the inhabitants of the 
Province, that they might not be sold to Papal France. 

In 1674 a new treaty of peace was signed between England 
and Holland, and New York was restored to the British crown. 
Again prosperity seemed to dawn upon the inhabitants of 
Maine, scattered along the seacoast from Piscataqua to the 
Penobscot. The French occupied the eastern side of the Pen- 
obscot Bay. The English, in large numbers, had reared their 
dwellings, and were improving their lands, upon the western 
banks of the bay, and westerly to the River Sagadahoc. 

Capt. John Jocelyn, in the year 1670, visited the Province of 
Maine. The next year he published a record of his voyage. It 
contains b} T far the most minute account of the condition of the 
Province at that time, which has descended to us. From this 
narrative we make the following interesting extracts: 2 — 



1 Williamson, vol. i. p. 441. 



2 See Jocelyn' s Voyages, pp. 200-212. 



TEE EI STORY OF MAINE. 



163 



" Towns there are not many in this Province. Kittery, not far from Pas- 
cataway, is the most populous; next to that, eastward, is Gorgeana (York). 1 
Farther to the eastward is the town of Wells. Cape Porpus is eastward of 
that, where there is a town of the same name, the houses scatteringly built. 2 
All these towns have store of salt and fresh marsh, with arable land, and all 
well stocked with cattle. 

" About eight or nine miles to the eastward of Cape Porpus is Winter 
Harbor, a noted place for fishers. 3 Here they have many stages. Saco 
adjoins to this, and both make one scattering town of large extent, well 
stored with cattle, arable land and marshes, and a saw-mill. Six miles to 
the eastward of Saco, and forty miles from Gorgeana, is seated the town of 
Black Point (Scarborough). 4 It consists of about fifty dwelling-houses, 
and a magazine, scatteringly built. They have store of neat (cattle) and 
horses ; of sheep near upon seven or eight hundred ; much arable and marsh 
salt and fresh, and a corn-mill. To the southward of the point, upon which 
are stages for fishermen, lie two small islands. Beyond the point, north- 
eastward, runs the River Spurwink. 

u Four miles from Black Point, and one mile from Spurwink River, east- 
ward, lieth Richmond Island. It is three miles in circumference, and hath 
a passable and gravelly ford on the north side, between the main and the 
sea at low water. Here are found excellent whetstones, and here, likewise, 
are stages for fishermen. 

' ' Nine miles eastward of Black Point lieth scatteringly the town of Cas- 
co, 5 upon a large bay. It is stored with cattle, sheep, swine, abundance of 
marsh and arable land, a corn-mill or two, with stages for fishermen. Far- 

1 "Actuated by these generous designs, he (Gorges) determined now to erect 
the borough iuto a city, and accordingly executed another and more perfect char- 
ter, March 1, 1642, by which he incorporated a territory of twenty-one square 
miles, and the inhabitants upon it, into a body politic, which he, evidently in com- 
pliment to his own name, called Gorgeana. The whole lay in the form of a paral- 
lelogram, on the northern side of the River Agamenticus, extending up seven 
miles from its mouth, and one league upon the seashore." — Williamson's History 
of Maine, vol. i. p. 288. 

2 Cape Porpoise, or Porpus as Jocelyn spells it, was hut two and a half miles 
from Wells. — Williamson, vol. i. p. 26. 

3 The celehrated place called Winter Harbor, so called after an ancient inhabit- 
ant there by the name of Winter, is at the head of the tide, six miles below Saco 
Bridge. See Williamson, vol. i. p. 21. . 

4 " After passing the plantations of Kittery, York, Wells, and Saco, we come 
to Scarborough, which has never changed its name since its first incorporation. It 
extends towards the east, six miles in width on the coast, to the mouth of Spur- 
wink River, which seems to cut off, as it bounds, the eastwardly corner of the 
town. This part is called Black Point." — Williamson, vol. i. p. 29. 

5 What is now called Portland was first called Cleeves' Neck, then Munjoy 
Neck, and sometimes Casco, or Old Casco, from its position on Casco Bay. The 
first settlement was made by George Cleeves and Richard Tucker, who settled 
near the mouth of Spurwink River, in the year 1630. — History of New England, by 
Coolidge and Mansfield, vol. i. p. 267. 



164 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



ther eastward is the town of Kennebec, seated upon the river. Farther yet 
eastward is Sagadahoc, where there are many houses scattering, and all 
along stages for fishermen. These, too, are stored with cattle and corn 
land. 

"From Sagadahoc to Nova Scotia, is called the Duke of York's Prov- 
ince. Here are Pemaquid, Montinecus, Mohegan, Capeanawhagen, where 
Capt. Smith fished for whales ; all are filled with dwelling-houses and stages 
for fishermen, and have plenty of cattle, and arable land, and marshes. 

" The people of the Province of Maine may be divided into magistrates, 
husbandmen or planters, and fishermen. Of the magistrates, some be royal- 
ists, the rest perverse spirits. The like are the planters and fishers. They 
have a custom of taking tobacco, sleeping at noon, sitting long at meals, 
sometimes four times a day, and now and then drinking a dram. The fisher- 
men take yearly upon the coast many hundred quintals of cod, hake, had- 
dock, and pollock." 1 

Capt. Jocelyn speaks of the inhabitants as indolent, and many 
of them as very intemperate. Having earned a little money, 
they eagerly spent it for strong drink, and could not be again 
induced to work as hired laborers until their money was ex- 
pended. 

It is estimated that the whole white population scattered 
along the coast of Maine, between Piscataqua and the Penob- 
scot, amounted to between five and six thousand souls. 2 Chal- 
mers, in his Political Annals, states that the population of all 
New England comprised about a hundred and twenty thousand 
souls. Hutchinson places the number as high as a hundred and 
fifty thousand. There were, in the year 1675, a hundred and 
fifty-six families east of the Sagadahoc, and about a hundred 
fishing vessels. 3 

In the year 1675, the deplorable war commenced between the 
Indians under King Philip and the Plymouth Colony, — a war 
fraught with woes beyond all computation. Through the im- 

1 Mr. Williamson spells the name Joscelyn, and says that his account ends in 
1673. Mr. William Willis, one of the most accurate of men, spells the name in his 
History of Portland as we have given it in the text. He says that the period to 
which Jocelyn' s narrative relates is 1670, and that Jocelyn returned to England 
in 1671. — History of Portland by William Willis, p. 882. 

2 Williamson, vol. i. p. 447. He estimates that the whole Province, including 
the Duke of York's domain, could furnish about a thousand soldiers. 

3 Statement to the Massachusetts Assistants in 1675, by Sylvanus Davis. Mr. 
Willis estimates that there were then four hundred familie§4a Falmouth. 




THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



165 



prudence of well-meaning men, and the wickedness of the reck- 
less and the vile, the Indians of Maine were soon induced to 
unite with those of Massachusetts in the attempt to extermi- 
nate the white man. Before entering upon the details of the 
dreadful war which ensued, we will give a brief description of 
the Indians of Maine. 

The generic name, given to the several tribes between the 
Penobscot River and the vicinit}' of the Piscataqua was Aben- 
agues. 1 The Indians, dwelling in the valley of the Penobscot, 
are called by most of the ancient historians, Tarratines. Though 
the Abenagues and the Tarratines had lived on friendly terms 
until about the year 1615, a deadly war then broke out between 
them. Each tribe of the Abenagues had its chiefs, though 
there was one sovereign chief, called the Bashaba, who seemed 
to wield a sort of imperial authority over the confederate 
tribes. 2 

His principal abode was near Pemaquid ; his extended do- 
mains were called Moasham, 3 and he could lead to the field 
several thousand warriors. There were four tribes of the 
Abenagues : — 

1. The Sokokis, dwelling in the valley of the Saco River. 

2. The Anasagunticooks, 4 a powerful tribe, who claimed the 
territory and waters of the Androscoggin, from Merrymeeting 
Bay upwards, and on the west side of the Sagadahoc to the 
sea. Their headquarters were at Brunswick Falls, called then 
Pejepscot. This spot became the central rendezvous, where the 
eastern and western tribes held their councils, and conspired for 
the extermination of the English. They had a large fort near 
the falls. By fishing, hunting, and the culture of their fields, 
they obtained an ample supply of food. But the early injuries 
they had received from the whites had so exasperated them, 

1 There is much diversity with regard to the spelling of these Indian names by 
the annalists of those days. The Abenagues are called Abenakis, Wabenakies, 
and Wapanachkis. There is the same diversity in the spelling of the names of 
nearly all the tribes. 

2 See Smith, Purchas, Wmthrop, Prince, and Hubbard. 

3 Gorges' Description of New England, pp. 17, 54. Belknap calls his domains 
Mavooshen, Biog. 149. Purchas writes it Maivooshen, p. 939. 

4 Hutchinson gives this tribe the name of AresagunticooTcs ; Douglass, Arouse- 
gunticooks ; Hubbard, Amerascoggan ; Smith, Amarascoyen. 



166 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



that they were never cordially friendly, and at the first sound 
of war they eagerly grasped both gun and tomahawk. 

3. The Canibas. This tribe was found quite numerous upon 
the Kennebec when the river was first discovered. It seems to 
have been a conglomerate tribe, consisting of several branches 
or families. The chief sachem, Kennebis, occupied a delightful 
situation on Swan Island. The territory claimed by this tribe 
extended from the sources of the Kennebec River to Merry- 
meeting Bay, and included the islands on the eastern side of the 
Sagadahoc River to the sea. 1 

One of the favorite locations of this tribe was at Korridcre- 
wock, opposite the mouth of the Sandy River. Here the first 
French missionary, Gabriel Dreuillettes, was stationed. It seems 
difficult to imagine an}^ motive sufficiently powerful to induce 
a gentleman of refinement and culture to spend his da} T s in the 
wigwams of the savages, endeavoring to teach them the religion 
of Jesus, but a sincere desire to serve God. 

4. The Wawenocks 2 possessed the region east of the Sagada- 
hoc, as far as St. Georges River. Their territory was small in 
its limits, and the tribe not large. The headquarters of the 
tribe were on the westerly side of the River Sheepscot, near the 
falls. Hubbard, in his History of the Indian Wars, speaks of 
them as the Sheepscot Indians. 3 The personal appearance and 
habits of these Indians are thus described by Capt. Smith : — 

" The name of TVawenock signifies fearing nothing. They were of comely 
proportion, and quite athletic. They would row their canoes faster with five 
paddles than my own men could their boats with eight oars. They had no 
beards, and thought ours counterfeits. Their women, though of lower stat- 
ure, were fleshy and well favored; all habited in skins like the men." 4 

There was another powerful tribe, called the Etechemins, 
occupying the region between the Penobscot and the St. Johns, 

1 Williamson, vol. i. p. 4C6. Drake writes, "Kennebis was a sachem from 
whom it has been supposed that the Kennebec Elver derives its name. But 
whether there were a line of sagamores of this name from whom the river was 
so called, or whether sachems were so called from their living at a certain place 
upon it, is uncertain." — Book of the Indians, b. hi. p. 98. 

2 This name is also written by different annalists, Waweenecks, Weweenocks, 
and Wewenocks. 

3 Hubbard, p. 301. 

4 Journal of Thomas Smith, p. 19. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



1G7 



including the valleys of both those rivers. There is some diver- 
sity of statement in reference to the definite boundaries of this 
tribe. Williamson represents them as composed of three tribes, 
— the Tarratines, the Openangos, and the Marechites. They 
could bring six thousand warriors into the field. The Abena- 
gues he estimates could bring five thousand. This would fur- 
nish them with an army of eleven thousand men. 1 Probably 
all were accustomed to the musket, and were good marksmen. 
They could obtain ample supplies of ammunition from the 
French. This was a terrific power to be brought against the 
settlers scattered through the forests of Maine. 

The above estimate of the number of Indian warriors is given 
for the year 1615, when it is supposed that the whole Indian 
population of Maine amounted to about thirty -seven thousand. 

1 Williamson, voL i p. 483. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE FIRST INDIAN "WAR. 



The Indians — Their Manners and Customs — Fondness for Intoxicating Drinks 

— Scenes in the Wigwam — The Catholic Missionaries — Adventures of 
Rasle — Indian Intelligence — Population — Philip's War — Commencement 
of Hostilities — Awful Scenes of Blood and Woe— The Truce — Efforts of 
Mr. Shurte — The War Renewed — The Ambuscades — Folly of the English 

— Desperation of the Indians. 

~T~T is important to perpetuate a correct idea of the numbers, 



-L condition, and character of the native inhabitants of Maine. 
They have nearly all passed away. The few remnants which 
remain have lost all resemblance, in character and habits of life, 
to their ancestors of two centuries ago. 

The Indians of Maine were of ordinary stature, very erect, 
and of great muscular strength. Their hair was long, very 
black, and coarse. Their complexion was peculiar, with a red- 
dish tinge, which, at a glance, enabled one to distinguish them 
from the negro, the mulatto, or the most dark-skinned European. 
Though, in the South, a corpulent Indian was sometimes found, 
it is said that none such were seen in Maine, neither was a de- 
formed Indian, or one dwarfed or cross-eyed, ever met with. 1 

The men were beardless. But, strange as it may appear, the 
question is not yet settled whether this were a provision of 
nature or the effect of art. Smith, in his history, says that they 
had no beards ; others have said that the young men plucked 
out their beards until the roots were entirely destroyed. Still 
others say that the Indians anointed their bodies with an unc- 
tion, as a protection against flies and vermin, which prevented 
the growth of the beard. 




1 Williamson, yoL i p. 484. 



168 



TEE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



169 



Trained from infancy to acute perceptions, the Indian could 
traverse the most dense and intricate forests without the slight- 
est fear of losing his way. Notwithstanding their hardships, 
many of them lived to extreme old age. 

Both men and women were fond of gay colors in their cloth- 
ing. Their dress consisted of furs in winter, and in summer of 
skins from which the fur had been removed. Many were very 
slightly clad in summer, and not unfrequently one was met 
entirely naked. They were all exceedingly fond of ornaments, 
and decorated their persons with gorgeously colored plumes, 
shells, beads, and wings. An Indian chieftain, in full dress, 
would outshine any of his brother lords in Windsor or Ver- 
sailles. 

Among themselves the Indians were remarkably honest. 
They had no locks, bolts, or bars. In trade they were fair, and 
often expressed astonishment at the mean tricks to which the 
white trader would resort. They were proverbial for their hos- 
pitality, being ever ready to share their last morsel of food with 
the stranger who entered the wigwam. They were grave and 
taciturn in their ordinary demeanor, and seemed never to forget 
a kindness or an injury. 

With no ambition to acquire property, no stimulus to exertion, 
with nothing to rouse their energies but the chase and the occa- 
sional excitements of war, they were generally indolent. With 
but little thought of the morrow, they were content with the 
food and clothing of to-day. The atrocities of Weymouth, 
Harlow, and Smith, in kidnapping the Indians, the cheating 
practised by unprincipled traders, and the infamous conduct 
of getting chieftains drunk, and then obtaining a deed of exten- 
sive territories for mere trifles, were sufficient to rouse the 
indignation of the most patient people. The Indians have had 
no historians. But, according to the testimony of white men, 
their wrongs were unendurable, and their savage natures were 
goaded, by the crimes of individual white men, to the most 
dreadful acts of retaliation. 

Their thirst for ardent spirits seemed to be an irrepressible 
appetite. They would drink the strongest rum, unmixed, until 
roused to the most dreadful degree of frenzy. They then 



170 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



appeared more like demons than men, and were capable of any 
crime. 

The Indians generally lived in small villages. The writer 
spent many an hour, sixty years ago, in the wigwams of the 
Penobscot Indians. To his boyish eye, in a cold winter day, 
the interior often presented an aspect peculiarly attractive. The 
hut, built of boughs of trees and of bark, was always in the 
majestic forest. It was sometimes circular, enclosing a space 
about fifteen feet in diameter. Again, it was oblong in shape, 
and about thirty feet in length and ten in width. 

The floor was always carpeted with the green and fragrant 
twigs of the hemlock. The walls generally afforded ample pro- 
tection against both wind and rain. From a bright fire, burn- 
ing in the centre, the smoke would generally rise through a hole 
in the roof, leaving the atmosphere within the hut quite pure. 
The indolent men would be lying around, sleeping or dozing. 
The women were always busy. The}' sat easily upon the floor, 
braiding their baskets, and chatting in low, musical, monotonous 
tones, with rarely a smile. 

As one day 1 came near sitting down upon an apparent 
cushion, which proved to be a cradle in which a babe enveloped 
in furs was sleeping, it excited a general smile from the squaws 
seated around, but not a sound was heard. I always took with 
me, as a gift, some tobacco, which insured me a warm welcome. 
The emotions excited in my young mind during those silent 
hours, in the wigwam of the friendly Indian, can never be 
forgotten. 

Nothing like what we call furniture was ever seen in the hut. 
There was neither chair, stool, nor table. They had no regular 
meals. They ate when hungry. One great and revolting de- 
fect of the Indians was their utter want of cleanliness. Appar- 
ently they never washed even their faces or hands, or their 
clothes and cooking utensils. But, to my eye, the interior of 
their cabins always appeared neat and alluring. Still in a dark, 
easterly storm, with drenching rain and moaning wind, filling 
the cabin with suffocating smoke, the interior must have been 
extremely dismal. 

The young girls were graceful in figure, and often possessed 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



171 



pleasing countenances. Had they been cleanly, many of them 
would have been deemed quite beautiful. All domestic and 
farm labor devolved upon the women. They planted and hoed 
the corn, gathered in the harvest, took care of the fish and 
game, and cooked the food. 

Christianity was first taught the Indians by the Catholic mis- 
sionaries from France. As early as 1608, Biard and Masse com- 
menced their self-denying labors at Mt. Desert. 1 Gabriel 
Dreuillettes was the first missionary who settled upon the banks 
of the Kennebec. In 1646 he built a chapel at Old Point, 
Norridgewock, and for many years taught the Indians, win- 
ning their highest regard. In the French war of 1674, the 
British laid his station in ashes. Upon the return of peace, the 
Massachusetts government sent workmen to replace the rude 
chapel which was destroyed, by another, far better, of hewn 
timber. Dreuillettes was a highly educated and eloquent man. 

Dreuillettes, or Dreuelettes as some spell the name, was suc- 
ceeded in the mission at Norridgewock by two brothers, Vin- 
cent and Jaques Bigot. They were of illustrious lineage, being 
the sons of Baron Bigot of France. These young men, cradled 
in ancestral halls, and educated in the universities of Europe, 
forsook all the attractions of cultured society, luxurious homes, 
and ambitious aspirations, to spend their whole lives in savage 
wilds, toiling to lift up the ignorant and the degraded to the 
knowledge of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. 

They lived in a state of comfort but little above that of the 
savages around them ; with a wigwam of bark for their home, 
with a bear-skin for a bed, and with only such food as the 
coarse fare of the Indians could supply. 2 

Sebastian Rasle 3 succeeded the Bigots in the mission to Nor- 
ridgewock. He was a gentleman by birth, education, and cul- 

1 This was in 1G09. It is supposed the place of residence selected by the mis- 
sionaries was on the western side of the Pool. Here they constructed a habita- 
tion, planted a garden, and dwelt five years. "With never-failing zeal they entered 
upon the lifelong work of teaching the natives the principles of Christianity. 
See Williamson, vol i. p. 206. 

2 The History of Norridgewock, by William Allen, p. 28. 

3 The name is variously spelled, Rasle, Rasles, Ralle, Rale. We give it as in- 
scribed upon his monument by Bishop Fenwick. 



172 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



ture. Religious zeal incited him, also, to leave the endearments 
of a home of opulence and congenial companionship, and to 
spend thirty-five years in the then unbroken wilderness of 
Maine. His remarkable character deserves more particular 
notice. 

He sailed from Rochelle, in France, in the summer of 1689, 
and, after a three-months' voyage, landed at Quebec. Having a 
well-disciplined mind, and writing Latin with classical purity, 
he found but little difficulty in acquiring the simple languages 
of the natives. After spending several months in the diligent 
study of the Indian tongue, he was first stationed in a village 
of the Abenagues nation, in Maine. Here he found about two 
hundred Indians, who, from the labors of previous missionaries, 
were professing Christianity. 

After spending two years in this village, he received an order 
from his ecclesiastical superiors, to go far away into the depths 
of the savage wilderness, to a mission among the Indians of 
Illinois. Without a murmur, in August of 1691, he^ prepared 
for this journey of two thousand four hundred miles, through 
trackless wilds, towards the setting sun. Repairing to Quebec, 
he there, with a few companions and Indian guides, set out on 
his long and perilous journey, in the birch canoe. 

They ascended the winding and rapid current of the St. Law- 
rence ; carried their canoe and its freight on their shoulders, 
around the portages by which they passed the rapids. After 
traversing the whole length of Lake Ontario, and threading the 
forest around Niagara Falls, they again launched their canoe 
upon Lake Erie. Weary days and nights of storm and sun- 
shine passed as they paddled along the shores of this inland 
sea, through the straits, expanding in their centre into Lake 
Clair, traversed Lakes Huron and Michigan, crossed the portage 
to the upper waters of the Illinois River, and descended that 
stream, to their destination amidst the thronged villages of the 
Indians, situated upon its banks. 

Every night they landed, built their camp-fire, cooked their 
supper, performed their devotions, while the silent forest echoed 
their vespers ; and, commending themselves to God, the}' enjoyed 
that sleep which he gives to his beloved. Often, when it 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



173 



rained, the upturned canoe afforded them their only shelter. Fre- 
quently they suffered from hunger, and eagerly devoured the 
lichens which grew upon the rocks. Here Sebastian Rasle 
spent two years in teaching the Indians. He was then recalled 
by his superior, and stationed at Norridgewock on the Ken- 
nebec. We shall often have occasion to refer to this extraordi- 
nary man in the progress of this narrative. 1 

It can hardly be said that the Indians had any religious opin- 
ions. There were vaguely floating through their minds some 
shadowy and inoperative ideas of a Great Spirit, and of hunt- 
ing-grounds beyond the grave. They had perhaps a more prac- 
tical faith in an evil spirit than in God. The machinations of 
this malignant demon they greatly feared. The Catholic mis- 
sionaries gave them much more elevated views of religion and 
of personal responsibility. Their teachings put an end to the 
horrid orgies of the Indian pow-wows. 2 

Their government was of the simplest form. The authority 
of the chiefs seems to have been mainly that which superior 
intelligence and energy give. It was like the power which is 
exerted over a New England village by a prominent man of 
education, wealth, and enterprise. When the first settlers 
reached the coast of Maine, there was one sovereign chief of 
the Wawenoc tribe. These Indians occupied the valleys of the 
Sheepscot, the Pemaquid, and the St. George's Rivers. 

The Bashaba, as he was called, extended his nominal sway 
over the western tribes as far as Agamenticus or York. 3 Each 

1 " Father Rasle lived among this people over thirty years. His influence was 
very extensive, and deserved, not less for his zeal and entire devotion to their ser- 
vice, than for his learning and talents. The French writers place him among the 
saints, while his English contemporaries give him a place the very opposite." — 
History of Portland, by William Willis, p. 349. 

2 Williamson writes, " So often had his (Rasle's) malignity, pride, and officious 
interference awakened among the Indians new complaints, that the people of the 
Province, for good reasons, regarded him ' among the most infamous villains,' and 
would have given more for his head than for a hundred scalps of the natives." — 
History of Maine, vol. ii. p. 106. 

Williamson also writes, "He was a man of talents and learning; and by his 
condescending manners, religious zeal, and untiring perseverance, he had greatly 
endeared himself to the tribe. He had resided with them, and been their tutelar 
father, thirty years, and many of them he had taught to read and write." — His- 
tory of Maine, vol. ii. p. 102. 

3 Mr. Williamson suggests that the Camden Hills were the probable boundary 
of Bashaba' s dominions on the east. — Vol. i. p. 95. 



174 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



tribe had a head chief called a sagamore, and subordinate 
chiefs, like the secondary nobility in Europe, called sachems. 
The chiefs were chosen by the men of the tribe, and the office 
continued for life. The successful candidate was often inducted 
into office with great barbaric pomp. Representatives from 
other tribes generally assisted at the ceremonies. 

For fifty years the planters and traders of Maine carried on 
their intercourse with the Indians without an} r open outbreak. 
The Indians were often subjected to great wrongs at the hands 
of individuals, and bitter complaints were not infrequent. As 
the English grew more powerful, they became more arrogant 
and domineering ; while the natives, crushed and irritated, were 
ready to embrace any opportunity for direful revenge. But 
there were some truly good men among the English adventur- 
ers, who treated the Indians with humanity, and won their af- 
fection. Thus there were two parties among the Indians, — the 
friendly and the unfriendly; but the latter, in numbers, far 
exceeded the former. 

Many of the Indians possessed much higher intelligence, and 
had clearer conceptions of their wrongs, than has generally been 
supposed. They often argued their cause against the white 
men with great shrewdness and invincible logic. Their amuse- 
ments consisted mainly of foot-races, wrestling, pitching quoits, 
and bat and ball. They had no schools, and had no idea whatever 
of reading, writing, or arithmetic. Heckewelder says, that, in 
their first endeavor to pronounce the word " English" they 
uttered the sound " Yengees," which is the origin of the term 
Yankees. 1 

King Philip's war broke out in June, 1675. 2 There were 
then, according to the usual estimate, thirteen settlements, more 
or less scattered, in Maine. 3 The English population of Maine 

1 "Writings as to the Indians, by John Heckewelder. 

2 "This war has been ascribed to various causes. It has been represented, 
with some spleen as well as truth, that the English were the aggressors. The 
generous treatment and welcome they first received from the natives had been 
repaid, as accusers say, by kidnapping their benefactors, by disturbing their hunt- 
ing grounds and fisheries, and by a shameful mismanagement of the fur and pel- 
try trade." — Williamson, vol. i. p. 517 ; Mather's Magnolia, vol. ii. p. 493. 

3 These were, 1, Battery; 2, York; 3, Wells; 4, Cape Porpoise; 5, Saco; 6, Scar- 
borough; 7, Falmouth; 8, Pejepscot; 9, Sagadahoc and Kennebec; 10, Sheepscot; 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



175 



was about six thousand souls. They were widely dispersed in 
many small villages and lonely farmhouses, and almost in the 
worst possible condition for either aggressive or defensive war. 

The excitement rapidly spread among the tribes, from Plym- 
outh to Sagadahoc. The hunting gun had become to the In- 
dian almost necessary to his existence. The General Court 
sent commissioners, with full military powers, to Maine, who 
were directed to see that neither guns, powder, knives, nor lead, 
should be sold to any Indian who was not fully known to be 
friendly. They were also ordered, as far as possible, to disarm 
the Indians, by taking from them their guns and knives. 1 

A more oppressive measure of hostility could hardly have 
been inflicted upon the Indians. Just across the line, in Can- 
ada and Nova Scotia, the French sold every thing to the Indi- 
ans just as freely as to one another. They had no more fear of 
a rising of the natives against them, than they had of an insur- 
rection on the part of their own brethren. Under these circum- 
stances we can easily imagine which party would secure the 
sympathies of the Indians. 

There was quite a renowned Indian chief, by the name of 
Squando, who resided near Saco. He had been a friend of the 
white men. One his wife was ascending the Saco River in 
a canoe with an infant babe in her arms. There were some 
brutal British sailors on the banks. They had heard that Indian 
babes could swim naturally, like puppies or ducks. 2 To try the 
experiment, they overset the canoe, plunging mother and child 
into the river. The babe sank like lead. The mother, diving, 
and groping along the bottom, at length found it, and brought 
it to the surface. But the child soon died. This outrage roused 
Squando, and he consecrated his tireless energies in the en- 
deavor to combine the Indians against the English. 3 

11, Damariscotta; 12, Pemaquid; 13, Monhegan. The country between the Pen- 
obscot and Passamaquoddy Bay had but few habitations. — Williamson, vol. i. 
p. 615. 

1 Records of Massachusetts Government, vol. iv. p. 29; see also Hubbard's 
Indian Wars, p. 301. 

2 "They can swim naturally, striking their paws under their throats like a 
dog, and not spreading their arms as we do." —Jocelyn's Voyage to New England, 
p. 142. 

8 " The whites did not believe that the death of the child was owing to its im- 
mersion; still we must allow the Indians to know as well as they." — Drake' % 
Book of the Indians, b. iii. p. 99. 



176 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Thomas Purchas resided about six miles below the Falls, at 
Brunswick. He was a sharp trader, and had acquired a large 
estate, though he had rendered himself very unpopular with 
the Indians. Early in September, 1675, a party of twenty 
Indians approached his house, apparently for purposes of trade. 
Purchas and his son chanced both to be absent. 

The Indians robbed the house of guns, ammunition, and such 
liquors as they could carry away. They killed a calf and several 
sheep, and enjoyed a luxurious feast. In the midst of the rev- 
elry, a son of Mr. Purchas appeared on horseback. Terrified at 
the spectacle, he fled for life, putting the horse to his utmost 
speed. An Indian, with a gun hid under his blanket, pursued 
him for a short distance, but soon gave up the chase. Neither 
Mrs. Purchas nor any members of the household were subjected 
to any violence, though the Indians said, in retiring, " Others 
will soon come, and you will fare worse." 1 

This was the first hostile act here, indicating that war had 
actually commenced. In Falmouth, on the east bank of the 
Presumpscot River, there was an old man residing, by the name 
of Thomas Wakely. His lonely cabin, containing nine inmates, 
was far removed from any neighbors. Mr. Wakely and wife, 
his son John and his wife, and three children, were tomahawked. 
Two were carried away as captives. 2 

Lieut. George Ingersoll resided on Casco Neck, now Portland. 
From his cabin he saw the flame and the smoke. The next 
morning, with a small party of well -armed neighbors which he 
had collected, he proceeded to the spot. Awful was the spec- 
tacle which met his eye. The body of old Mr. Wakely was 
half consumed by the fire. Nothing remained of his wife and 
son but their charred and blackened bones. The wife of his 
son, who was near her confinement, had been cut down by the 
tomahawk, and her body was mangled in the most shocking 
manner. The bodies of three little children, whose brains had 
been dashed out, were partially buried in the ruins. Of the two 
children who were carried into captivity, one was never heard 

1 When complained of for this depredation, they (the Indians) attempted to 
justify themselves on the ground that Purchas had injured them in their trading. 
— History of Portland, by William Willis, p. 195. 

2 History of Portland, by William Willis, p. 197. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 177 

of more. The other, Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of Mr. 
Wakely, about eleven years of age, was eventually rescued. 1 

The poor orphan child, in the endurance of physical suffer- 
ings from cold, hunger, and weariness, which were almost in- 
tolerable, and of the most dreadful mental anguish from the 
horrid scenes which she had witnessed, was retained in captivity 
nine months. In June of the next year, she was released 
through the kind interposition of Squando. 2 Not long after 
this, the son of Lieut. Ingersoll was killed, and his house and 
those of his neighbors were burned. 3 

The Indians having thus lapped blood, their savage natures 
were roused. In small, demoniac bands, they scattered over 
the whole Province of Maine, from the Piscataqua to the An- 
droscoggin. A large number of Indians were ravaging the 
dwellings at the head of New Meadows River, near Brunswick. 
A party of twenty-five Englishmen, in a sloop and two boats, 
attacked them. There was a hotly contested battle. The Eng- 
lish were defeated, and driven back to their sloop. Many were 
severely wounded. The victors uttered yells of triumph which 
resounded through the forests. . 

On Saturday morning, Sept. 18, two dwelling-houses at Saco 
were attacked. One was occupied by Mr. John Bonython. It 
stood on the east of the river, about a mile below the Lower 
Falls. A neighboring Indian, who was friendly to Mr. Bony- 
thon, 4 came to him privately, and said, — 

" Some stranger Indians, from the west, have been at my wigwam. They 
have endeavored to persuade us all to raise the tomahawk against the white 
people. They have gone farther east, and will probably soon come back 
with many warriors. ' ' 

1 According to Sullivan, this event took place in July, 1675. But Williamson, 
following Hubbard's account, assigns it to the 12th of September of that year. 

2 "When the family of old Mr. Wakely was murdered, a young woman was 
carried away captive. Squando was the means of her being set at liberty. She,, 
having been carried up and down the country some hundreds of miles, as far as- 
Narragansett fort, was, this last June, returned back to Major Waldron's, by one 
Squando, the sagamore of Saco; a strange mixture of mercy and cruelty." — 
Drake's Book of the Indians, b. iii. p. 100. 

8 Williamson, vol. i. p. 521. 

4 We find frequent reference, in the York Records and other writings of the 
early annalists, to John Bonighton of Saco, and infer that, in those days, the 
name was sometimes so spelled. Still the allusion may be to some other person. 
There was then great want of uniformity in the spelling of proper names. 



178 



TEE EISTORY OF MAINE. 



Thus warned, Mr. Bonython spread the alarm as far as he 
could, and, with his neighbors, fled for refuge to the house of 
Major William Phillips, who lived on the west side of the river, 
and " near the corner where the traveller turns to go to the 
bridge." 1 He was a military man, and his house was tolerably 
well fortified. 

The next morning Bonython's house was seen to be in flames. 

As Major Phillips looked from his chamber window, a lurking 
Indian, hid behind a fence, shot at him. The ball struck him 
on the shoulder, inflicting a severe wound. Had he not provi- 
dentially, at the moment, changed his position, he must have 
been killed. 

The Indian, supposing that he had accomplished his purpose, 
gave a triumphant yell. It was the signal for a large number 
of savages to leap from their ambuscade, and commence an at- 
tack upon the house. The Indians numbered about a hundred. 2 
Within the house, protected by the thick walls, there were ten 
well-armed and resolute men, who were accustomed to throw 
the bullet with unerring aim. 3 

For an hour the battle continued. The Indians, as was in- 
variably the case, were very wary as to the exposure of their 
persons. They hid behind trees, stumps, rocks, and the angles 
of out-houses, watching their chances to strike the foe. But 
ere long they became convinced that they could not capture or 
kill the inmates except by stratagem. They set fire to an im- 
portant mill, and to a small house in the vicinit}^ and endeavored 
by insults and taunts to provoke the garrison to come out from 
their fortification. Many of the Indians could speak English. 
As the flames arose they shouted, " Come out, you coward Eng- 
lish dogs ! Come and put out the fire if you dare ! " 

At last night came. The moon went down, and it was very 
dark, and still the murderous savages filled the night air with 
their ho wrings. They took a cart , which they loaded with 
straw, birch-bark, and other combustibles. Planks were arranged 
to protect them from the musketry of the house. This engine 

1 "Williamson, vol. i. p. 522. 

2 History of Saco and Biddeford, by George Folsom, p. 155. 

3 History of Portland, by William Willis, p. 197. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



179 



they endeavored to push back against the dwelling, whose walls 
of logs, baked in the summer and autumnal sun, were in the 
highest decree inflammable. It was a fearful instrument of 
attack. Upon the application of the torch, when the cart was 
pushed against the house, the flames would envelop the build- 
ing beyond all possibility of extinguishment. 

But the savages, as in their eagerness and in the darkness 
they were running the fire-cart back, struck a gutter, into which 
one of the wheels sank deeply, and such a sudden turn was 
given to the vehicle, that, as it whirled round, the whole party 
pushing it was exposed. The vigilant garrison instantly opened 
a deadly fire. No bullets were wasted by these keen marks- 
men. Six fell dead ; fifteen more were wounded. This, to the 
Indians, was a dreadful loss. With yells of rage they retired. 1 

The number within the dwelling, including women and chil- 
dren, was about fifty. None were killed. Two or three only 
were wounded. Two days after this, on the 20th of Septem- 
ber, a band of savages entered Scarborough, burning houses, 
and killing men, women, and children. Twenty-seven houses 
were burned. From many of them the families had escaped 
but to meet a doom more dreadful than death, — poverty, home- 
lessness, friendlessness, and the storms of approaching winter. 

It would require a volume, instead of the few pages which 
can here be devoted to the subject, to describe the individual 
scenes of violence, misery, and death, which ensued. For the 
protection of the distressed inhabitants of Saco, sixteen volun- 
teers, under Capt. Wincoln, landed at Winter Harbor. They 
were attacked by a hundred and fifty Indians. Two or three 
of the English were soon killed. The rest, taking a stand be- 
hind a breastwork of logs, kept up so deadly a fire upon their 
foes, that the savages were soon glad to retire, taking with them 
many who were slain, and many more who were wounded. 2 

Hearing the report of the guns, twelve men from Saco hur- 
ried forward to the aid of those who had come to their rescue. 
They were drawn into ambush, and were all shot down. De- 
moniac bands swept the valley of the Piscataqua, and laid many 
of the dwellings of Wells in ashes. 

1 Williamson, vol. i. p. 523. 2 Hubbard's Indian Wars, p. 310. 



180 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



A man by the name of John Tozier had a house and some 
mills at Salmon Falls. He had left his family, consisting of fif- 
teen women and children, to join the company of Capt. Win- 
coin. During his absence a band of Indians, led by two of 
their most renowned warriors, — one called Andrew, from Saco, 
and the other Hopegood, from the Kennebec, — attacked his 
house. It was within the limits of what is now Berwick. 

A young girl of eighteen, discovering their approach, gave 
the alarm. While the family were escaping by a back way, to 
the garrison, this heroic maiden fastened and held the door, till 
the savages had cut it down with their tomahawks. They 
rushed in, and madly struck her down, with repeated blows, 
until they supposed that she was dead. Pursuing the flying 
family, they caught two of the youngest children, one of whom, 
being but three years old, they instantly killed ; and the other 
they took with them, and held as a captive six months. The 
heroic maiden recovered, and lived for many years. It is 
to be regretted that her name has not been transmitted to 
us. 1 

A larger party joined these Indians the next day. They 
burned Capt. Wincoln's house, and his barns, containing more 
than a hundred bushels of corn. A company of the English 
set out to pursue them ; but nothing was accomplished. There 
was the interchange of a few unavailing shots, but the fleet- 
footed Indians escaped. 

Every day the animosity of the two hostile parties increased 
in virulence. The fiend-like deeds of the savages so exasper- 
ated the English, that they were ready to shoot down an Indian 
as they would a wolf or bear, without stopping to inquire 
whether he were friendly or hostile. On both sides it was a 
war of extermination. Under such circumstances men often 
become fiends. Neither party could accuse the other of ex- 
ceeding it in cruelty. The inhabitants of Monhegan offered a 
bounty of five pounds for every Indian's head that should be 
brought to them. 

1 Drake writes, in reference to this event, " Fifteen persons, all women and 
children, were in the house; and Hopegood, with one only beside himself , Andrew 
of Saco, thought to surprise them." — Book of the Indians, h. iii. p. 109. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



181 



Mr. Abraham Shurte 1 was then the chief magistrate at Pem- 
aquid. He seems to have been a sagacious and good man, and 
to have won the confidence of the Indians. He induced several 
of the sagamores to visit him for a friendly conference. In 
this interview he said, " I have urged our committee of war to 
issue orders forbidding everybody to harm, or even threaten, a 
peaceable Indian. I am determined to see all the wrongs you 
have suffered fully redressed." 

The Indians manifested no disposition for the horrors of bat- 
tle in which all lost and none gained. They were appeased by 
these conciliatory words. A treaty of peace between these two 
parties was the result. The Indians promised to do all in their 
power to induce others to cease their depredations. This, how- 
ever, was but an individual act on the part of Mr. Shurte. In 
other parts of Massachusetts and Maine, different counsels pre- 
vailed. In the desultory warfare, desperate white men wreaked 
vengeance upon the Indians, their wives and children, which no 
savages could exceed. 

The General Court of Massachusetts was disposed to try the 
effect of humane measures. Quite a large sum was ordered from 
the public treasury for the relief of those friendly Indians 
whose harvests had been trampled down, and whose cabins had 
been burned. A vessel was also sent to Maine, with military 
stores and provisions, and a detachment of fifty soldiers, under 
Lieut. Scottow. These were dark days throughout New Eng- 
land, — days " of terror, conflagration, tears, and blood." The 
7th of October, 1675, was generally observed as a day of fasting 
and prayer. 

On that day a man and two boys were shot at Berwick. On 
the 16 th a party of a hundred Indians assailed the cabin of 
Richard Tozier, burned it to the ground, killed him, and carried 
his son into captivity. This was all done within sight of the 
garrison house, where most of the inhabitants had fled for 
protection. Lieut. Roger Plaisted, who was in command, 
despatched a party of nine picked men to reconnoitre the foe. 

1 Mr. Willis spells the name Shurt. He writes, "Slmrt was about forty-four 
years old when he came over, and was living in 1662, aged about eighty." This 
would have made him a very old man in 1675. It is, however, possible that the 
Shurt alluded to in the text may have been the son of the one to whom Mr. Wil- 
lis refers. 



182 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



It is with amazement that we read of the readiness with 
which the English, year after year, for more than a century, 
would march into the ambuscades of the Indians. These war- 
riors made themselves merry in recounting the stupidity with 
which the British officers would lead their men into the snares 
which the Indians had set for them. Braddock and St. Clair, 
in subsequent years, when they ought to have learned wisdom 
by many a bloody lesson, manifested a degree of stupidit}' which 
rendered them the laughing-stock of the savage chieftains. 

After the terrific defeat of St. Clair, in Ohio, the Indian 
chiefs amused themselves with a sham fight, in which they re- 
enacted the folly of St. Clair in marching into the trap in which 
the Indians virtually annihilated his army. Even the women 
united in the shouts of derisive laughter which the foolishness 
of St. Clair elicited. 

The nine men despatched from the garrison by Lieut. Plais- 
ted walked deliberately into an ambuscade. Three were in- 
stantly shot down ; the others, with difficulty, effected their 
escape. The next day Plaisted sent out a team with twenty 
armed men, to bring in the dead bodies. Plaisted himself led 
them. He knew that there were more than a hundred sav- 
ages, whose cunning was proverbial, lurking around ; and yet, 
apparently, he had taken no precautions against their wiles. 
The cart was drawn by oxen. Just as they had placed in it 
one gory bod}% a party of a hundred and fifty savages rose from 
behind a stone wall, amidst logs and bushes, and opened upon 
them a deadly fire. The oxen terrified, and probably struck by 
balls, ran frantically towards the garrison. A few of the men 
escaped. Lieut. Plaisted, one of the most fearless of men, 
fought with desperation, until he was surrounded by the Indi- 
ans, and cut down by the tomahawk. Two of his intrepid sons 
perished with their father. 1 One of them, mortally wounded, 
lingered a short time before he died. 

The exultant Indians burned houses, barns, and mills, in all 
directions. The wretched inhabitants were compelled to seek 
shelter in the garrison-houses. Just before this terrible disaster 
Roger Plaisted and a Mr. Broughton had sent a despatch to 
Dover, then called Cocheco, for aid. 

1 Sullivan's History of Maine, p. 250. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



183 



" These are to inform you," they wrote, "that the Indians are just now 
engaging us with at least a hundred men, and have slain four of our men 
already. Sirs, if ever you have any love for us and the country, now show 
yourselves with men to help us, or else we are all in great danger to be slain, 
unless our God wonderfully appears for our deliverance." 1 * 

At Sturgeon Creek they burned a house, and shot two men. 
Capt. Frost was caught at some distance from his house. As he 
fled, ten bullets were fired at him. There were but three little 
boys in his house. With singular presence of mind he shouted 
out, as if there were a whole garrison there, ordering them to 
prepare to repel the foe. The Indians took the alarm, and did 
not venture within gunshot. 

The English settlements were scattered along; the seacoast. 
The Indian bands followed this line, burning and killing, ever 
ready to vanish beyond pursuit in the interior forest, whenever 
they encountered an overpowering foe. Many persons were 
killed at Wells, and much property destroyed. 2 No man could 
move a few rods from the garrison-houses, where the inhabitants 
were generally huddled together, without danger of being shot 
down by a lurking savage. 

Winter came, with deep snow and great severity of cold. 
Even the Indians found it needful to abandon their extended 
forays, and hover around their wigwam fires. They could 
purchase ammunition only of the French. It required long 
journeyings, through almost pathless forests, to reach their 
trading-posts. 

The English seemed to act upon the impression that the 
Indians had no more sense of right or wrong dealing, than had a 
dog, a horse, or a cow. They would violate their most solemn 
pledges, maltreat them in various ways, and then express sur- 
prise that their victims retaliated with savage vengeance. The 
Indians had become weary of a conflict in which they received 

1 Williamson, vol. i. p. 528. 

2 "In this terrible posture of affairs, the governor appointed a general fast. 
Had the English invariably acted upon the Christian principle of doing to all as 
they would have all do unto them, this appalling calamity would never have 
come upon them. It requires a wonderful boldness at the throne of grace, to 
pray to be saved from the consequences of our own iniquities." — History of Wells 
and KennebunJc, by Edward E. Bourne, p. 143. 



184 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



blows almost as hard as those which they gave. A truce was 
entered into. 

♦ 

" This armistice," writes Mr. Bourne, " might have resulted in a lasting 
treaty, had it not been for new acts of folly and wickedness on our part. 
Some had set in motion whispers of new enterprises on the part of the na- 
tives; and the fears of the people, from the scenes which they had just passed 
through, prompted them to seize those who had been active in the war. 
Under the authority of precepts for this purpose, some were seized near 
Pemaquid, carried off, and sold as slaves in foreign countries; a barbarity, 
on the part of civilized man, fully a counterpoise for the Indian enormities. 
And thus the fire was again kindled to sweep over the Province." 1 

Two vile kidnappers, in their vessels, ran along the eastern 
coast, and caught several Indians, whom they carried into for- 
eign parts, and sold as slaves. Some of these poor captives 
were Mickmaks from Cape Sable. Mr. Shurte, at Pemaquid, 
remonstrated against these outrages in vain. The Mickmaks 
were thus induced to join the eastern tribes in their avenging 
warfare. 2 

There is something very touching in the imploring cry of the 
Indians against these wrongs. They evidently desired peace, 
and were goaded to war by intolerable grievances. Mr. Shurte 
had won their confidence. A delegation waited upon him, and 
said, — 

4 'Your people frightened us away last fall, from our cornfields about 
Kennebec. You have withheld powder and shot from us. We are thus 
unable to kill either fowl or venison. Some of our Indians, last winter, 
died of hunger. ' ' 

Mr. Shurte assured them of his sympathy, of his utter detes- 
tation of the conduct of the kidnappers. He encouraged them 
with the hope that the government would take prompt measures 
to rescue the captives, and to restore them to their homes. The 
Indians expressed themselves as very much gratified by this 
parley. They delivered up a captive boy, and presented Mr. 

1 History of "Wells and Kennebunk, by Edward E. Bourne, p. 145. The truce 
into which the sagamores entered included, according to Hubbard, only the In- 
dians between Piscataqua and Casco. — Hubbard's IndianWars, p. 346. 

2 Hubbard, pp. 332-344. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



185 



Shurte with a belt of wampum. Arrangements were soon made 
for the assembling of an important council at Teconnet, near 
where Waterville now stands. 

Messrs. Shurte and Davis represented the white men. Five 
prominent sagamores represented the Indians. But there was 
a difficulty between them which no human wisdom could solve. 
The Indians must have powder and shot. It had become with 
them almost a necessity of life. But the western Indians were 
in deadly hostility to the whites. If ammunition were freely 
sold to the eastern Indians, it would inevitably soon reach those 
in the west. The English commissioners were embarrassed, and 
gave evasive replies. At length one of the chieftains, Madock- 
awando, became impatient of the distrust which was manifested. 
He rose, and with much dignity said, — 

4 ' Do we not meet here on equal ground? We ask, where shall we buy 
powder and shot for our winter's hunting? Shall we leave the English, and 
apply to the French for it? Or shall we let our Indians die? We have 
waited long to hear you tell us. Now we want Yes, or No." 

Thus driven to a decisive answer, one of them replied, though 
still, as will be seen, rather evasively, — 

"You may have ammunition for necessary use. But you yourselves say 
that there are many western Indians who do not choose peace. Should you 
let them have the powder which we sell you, what do we better than cut our 
own throats ? This is the best answer we are allowed to return you, though 
you wait ten years." 1 

The council was held in a large wigwam. The English were 
entirely at the mercy of the Indians. But the savages, though 
they took much umbrage at this reply, and broke up the council, 
were guilty of no treachery. 

" It is not our custom," they proudly said, " to seize messengers coming 
to us. We certainly never do as your people once did with fourteen of our 
Indians sent to treat with you. You took away their guns, and set a guard 
over their heads. Keep your arms. It is a point of honor. You are at 
liberty." 

1 Williamson, voL i. p. 532; Hubbard's Indian Wars, p. 340. Drake gives an 
interesting account of this council. " Here," he says, "as might reasonably have 
been expected, ended the negotiation; and massacres and bloodshed soon after 
desolated that part of the country." — Book of the Indians, book iii. pp. 100, 101. 



CHAPTER XI. 



THE HORRORS OF "WAR. 



Dispersion of King Philip's Forces — Falmouth Desolated — Scenes of Horror 

— Arrowsick Plundered — Treachery of Major Waldron — Munjoy's Island 
captured by the Savages — The Indians ask for Peace — Anecdote of Mugg 

— The English resume the War — Increased Ferocity of the Indians — The 
Mohawks Allies of the English — The Ambuscade at Black Point — Its Fatal 
Results. 

TT^ING PHILIP was hunted down and killed in August, 



1676. It is said, that, just before the commencement of 
the war, the governor of Massachusetts sent an ambassador to 
him, to inquire why he was making hostile preparations. The 
Indian chief haughtily replied, ^ Your governor is but a sub- 
ject of King Charles of England. I shall not treat with a 
subject. I shall treat of peace only with the king, my brother. 
When he comes, I am ready." 2 

The death of Philip did not terminate the war : it only scat- 
tered his forces. Many of his warriors retreated to Maine, and 
joined the savage bands who were burning and plundering there. 
Squando was particularly active. He professed to have received 
a divine revelation, urging him to the conflict. 2 Three of these 
warriors, men of much shrewdness and energ} r , took the Eng- 
lish names of Simon, Andrew, and Peter. They were desperate 

1 The Indian name was Pometacom. It is various spelled. In familiar con- 
versation the first syllable was frequently dropped, and he was called Metacom. 
Hubbard says that he was nicknamed King Philip, in consequence of his bold and 
commanding spirit. — Drake's Book of the Indians, book iii. pp. 13 — 24. 

2 " Squando pretended that God appeared to him in the form of a tall man in 
black clothes, declaring to him that he was God, and commanded him to leave 
his drinking of strong liquors, and to pray, and to keep sabbaths, and to go to hear 
the "Word preached ; all which things the Indian did for some years, with great 
seeming devotion and conscience, observe." — Drake's Book of the Indians, book 
iii. p. 99. 




186 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



187 



men. The terror of their deeds spread far and wide. Simon, 
who was called by his associates the Yankee killer, boasted that 
he had shot many a white man, and that he had never failed but 
once in striking his victim to the ground. 

Early in August, 1676, this Simon, with a party of savages, 
entered the house of Anthony Brackett, in Falmouth. They 
seized all the weapons in the house, and bound Mr. Brackett, 
his wife, five children, and a negro servant. Mrs. Brackett's 
brother, Nathaniel Mitten, made some slight resistance, and they 
instantly killed him. The unhappy captives were all carried 
away by the savages. Circumstances indicate that Mr. Brack- 
ett had, by his fair dealings, won the confidence of the Indians, 
and therefore they spared his life and the lives of the members 
of his family. 

Brackett occupied a large farm at Back Cove. He had several 
neighbors, whose cabins were scattered in the clearings around. 
It was a pleasant, sunny da}% the 11th of August, 1676. Eden 
could enjoy no more delightful climate than does Maine in that 
summer month. It was the custom of the settlers, in much of 
their farm work, to unite, helping each other. Two of these 
neighbors, Humphrey Durham and Benjamin At well, were as- 
sisting Robert Corbin to get in his hay. This was round the 
cove at Presumpscot River. 

The riotous savages shot them all down. The report of the 
guns was heard in the several cabins. The terrified inmates 
knew too well its import. The women and children, in one of 
the houses which was near the water, ran to a canoe, and es- 
caped across the cove. The other families were taken captive. 
And thus the Indians, encountering no resistance, proceeded 
from cabin to cabin, killing, burning, and taking prisoners, 
according to the suggestions of their capricious natures. 

Atwell and Corbin were brothers-in-law. They lived on 
adjoining farms. Durham's lot was on the other side of the 
river. Richard Pike, with another man, chanced to be in a 
canoe on the river, a little above Mr. Corbin's house. They 
heard the fire of musketry, and immediately saw a little boy, 
running terror stricken towards the river, pursued by the yell- 
ing savages. They were discharging their guns at him, and the 
bullets whistled over the heads of the men in the boat. 



188 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Simon himself soon appeared upon the bank, and called upon 
them to come ashore. But they plied their paddles with the 
vigor which the peril of death inspired, shouting the alarm to 
several houses upon the banks, and calling upon all to run, with 
the utmost speed, to the garrison-house. 

On the extreme east of the promontory then called Cleeves' 
Neck, but which is now covered with the dwellings of Portland, 
there was a beautiful swell of land, which rose about a hundred 
and sixty feet above the level of the sea. Upon the southern 
slope of this charming spot, commanding a view of the sea 
interspersed with islands, and wide reaches of the land, in all 
their pristine luxuriance, the first settlers of Portland reared 
their homes. Here also they erected their garrison-house to 
protect them from a foe more to be dreaded than sickness or 
famine or cold, or the most ferocious beasts of the forest. 1 

But the terror was so great, and those who had escaped to 
the garrison were so few and feeble, that they dared not await 
an attack from foes so numerous and merciless. The smoke of 
their burning dwellings was ascending all around. These woe- 
stricken fugitives, huddled into canoes, sought refuge upon one 
of the islands near the mouth of the harbor. This spot is now 
called Bangs' Island. A messenger was immediately despatched 
across the water to Scarborough, then called Black Point, for 
help. 

In the panic of their flight, they had left behind them a con- 
siderable quantity of ammunition. This was essential to their 
defence. It would also greatly strengthen the savages should it 
fall into their hands. In the darkness of the night, a small 
party of brave men paddled stealthily across the harbor, and suc- 
ceeded in recovering much of the powder which had escaped 
the scrutiny of the ransacking Indians. 

During the next day several of the English settlers succeeded 
in effecting their escape, and in joining the fugitives on Bangs' 

1 " The situation had advantages of utility and beauty. It was open to the 
sea by a small and handsome bay, accessible to fishing boats, and near the islands, 
while it was protected from the north winds by the hill in the rear of it. Here 
the first settlers cultivated tl e soil, and pursued their traffic with the natives, for 
a number of years, holding the land by a mere possessory title." — History of 
Portland, by William Willis, p. 47. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



189 



Island. They saved, however, only their lives. Their homes, 
and all they contained of food, clothing, farming and domes- 
tic utensils, were left to be plundered and destroyed by the 
savages. It is difficult for the imagination to conceive the des- 
titution and the woes to which these sufferers were doomed. 

Thus the peninsula of Cleeves, or Casco Neck, was laid deso- 
late. Thirty-four persons were either killed, or carried into 
captivity. 1 The amount of property destroyed was the all of 
these humble settlers. The loss was irreparable. These fami- 
lies were left in the wilderness, utterly destitute, with the blasts 
of a Maine winter rapidly gathering in the north. 

Upon the receipt of these tidings in Boston, the General 
Court immediately sent a vessel, with fifteen hundred pounds 
of bread, to the starving, houseless fugitives on Bangs' Island, 
which was then called Andrews Island. The following extract 
of a letter from Portsmouth, dated Sept. 26, 1676, will give the 
reader some conception of the terror of those days. It was 
addressed to Major-Gen. Denison, at Ipswich : — 

" This serves to cover a letter, from Capt. Hathorn, from Casco Bay, in 
which you will understand their want of bread, which want I hope is well 
supplied before this time ; for we sent them more than two thousand weight, 
which I suppose they had last Lord's Day night. The boat that brought 
the letter brings also word that Saturday night the Indians burnt Mr. 
Munjoy's house and seven persons in it. On sabbath day a man and his 
wife, one Gouge, 2 were shot dead and stripped by the Indians at Wells. 
Yesterday at two o'clock, Cape Nedick 3 was wholly cut off; only two men 
and a woman, with two or three children, escaped. So we expect now to 
hear of farther mischief every day. They send to us for help, both from 

1 Hubbard's Indian Wars, pp. 339 — 369. See also a very carefully prepared ac- 
count of this tragedy, in the History of Portland, by William Willis, pp. 204, 205. 

2 Mr. Williamson gives this name as Gooch, vol. i. p. 540. Mr. Bourne, in his 
History of Wells and Kennebunk, writes, "As the people were returning to their 
homes, Mr. James Gooch and his wife were attacked. He was shot and she was 
cut to pieces by the hatchet," p. 145. 

Again he writes, referring to the same date and locality, quoting from a letter, 
" On sabbath last, a man and his wife, namely one Gouge, were shot dead and 
stripped by the Indians, at Wells, about two or three o'clock," p. 146. 

It can scarcely be doubted that both of these accounts refer to the same event. 

3 This is usually spelled Neddock. Sullivan spells it-Neddick, p. 241. There 
was here a very attractive coast region, about four miles from York River, 
fringed with a beautiful beach of white sand. — Williamson's History of Maine, vol. 
i. p. 24. 



190 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



"Wells and York; but we had so many men out of town, that we know not 
how to spare any more. 

" Sir, please send notice to the council that a supply be sent to the army 
from the Bay; for they have eaten us out of bread, and here is little wheat 
to be gotten, and less money to pay for it. The Lord direct you and us in 
the great concerns that are before us; which dutiful service presented, in 
haste I remain, sir, your servant, " Richard Martin." 

The Indians, under the exasperation of the war, were grow- 
ing more and more barbarous. The massacre at Cape Neddock 
was attended with savage cruelty hitherto unpractised. Some 
dead bodies were wantonly hewn to pieces with the tomahawk. 
Forty persons were slain, or carried into captivity. Some of the 
atrocities were too dreadful to be narrated. A nursing mother 
had her brains dashed out. Her infant was fastened to her 
bosom, and was thus found living, striving to draw nutriment 
from the cold breast. 1 

The Indians, with their captives, proceeded to the Kennebec 
River, where they divided into two bands. Eleven ascended the 
river ; the remainder followed down the stream to attack the 
settlements near its mouth. They took the fort upon Arrowsic 
Island by surprise, and killed many of the inhabitants. This 
island, which was quite celebrated in the early history of Maine, 
was separated from Pittston by a channel about half a mile in 
breadth. It contained four thousand acres, and about fifty 
dwellings had been reared upon its shores. 

The battle here was desperate. One wearies of reading the 
appalling account of these scenes of slaughter. But few escaped. 
The little settlement had been in a high state of prosperity. 
Capt. Lake, one of the opulent proprietors, had erected upon 
the island a large and beautiful mansion, a strong fortress, with 
mills and outbuildings, at the expense of many thousand 
pounds. 

The Indians, about a hundred in number, came to the island 
stealthily, by night, landing upon the south-eastern point, and 
secreted themselves in those hiding-places which they knew so 
well how to search out. The people were taken entirely by 
surprise. The Indians crept in at the fort gate by stratagem, 



1 Sullivan's History of Maine, p. 241. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



191 



closed the port-holes, and with hideous yells proclaimed them- 
selves masters of the garrison. Terrible was the consternation. 
For a few moments there was a hand-to-hand struggle ; but 
Capts. Lake and Davis, finding themselves overpowered, fled, 
with a few others, by a rear portal, and, seizing a canoe, en- 
deavored to escape to another island. 

The Indians closely pursued them, and, firing upon them in 
the boat, killed Capt. Lake, and with a severe wound utterly 
crippled Capt. Davis. He, however, landed, and, creeping pain- 
fully along upon the shore, hid among the rocks. Here he re- 
mained, in dreadful suffering, for two days. He then succeeded 
in reaching the mainland. About a dozen other persons, in 
various ways, escaped from this midnight attack. Thirty-five 
were either killed or carried into captivity. The torch was 
applied to all the buildings, and, as the savages retired, the 
island presented a scene of utter desolation. 

The inhabitants throughout all this region were thrown into 
a state of dismay. They generally abandoned their homes, and 
many of them fled to Monhegan, where they thought that they 
could more effectually defend themselves than on the main land. 
A watch of twenty-five men was appointed to patrol the shores 
by night. Clouds of smoke were seen ascending over the burn- 
ing dwellings of Pemaquid, New Harbor, Corbin's Sound, and 
from man}' of the islands. At length the woe-worn fugitives 
took a vessel, and in utter destitution crowded on board, and 
sailed for Piscataqua and Salem. 1 

In the course of about five weeks, sixty miles of the coast 
eastward of Casco Bay were ravaged and depopulated. Many 
of the inhabitants were killed, many carried into captivity, and 
some escaped in the extreme of terror and wretchedness. 
Mountjoy's 1 Island is about six miles from the mainland. There 

1 Hubbard's Narrative of the Indian "Wars, pp. 351-360. 

2 The name is so spelled by Williamson, vol. i. p. 537. Mr. Willis spells it 
Munjoy. He writes, " Cleeves, on the 28th of December, 1637, leased for sixty years, 
to Michael Mitton who married his only child Elizabeth, the island at the mouth 
of the harbor, now called Peaks. In the deed it was declared that this was called 
Pond Island, and is subsequently to be known by the name of Michael's Island, 
from Mitton. It was afterward siiecessively called, from the owners or occu- 
pants, Munjoy's, Palmer's, and Peak's Island. — History of Portland, p. 50. 



192 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



was here an old stone house where several families, abandoning 
their homes, sought refuge. 

These tragic events are alluded to in the following extract 
from a letter addressed to the governor and council of Massa- 
chusetts. It was written by Brian Pendleton of Saco, and was 
dated, " Winter Harbor, at night, Aug*. 13, 1676." 

" I am sorry my pen must be the messenger of so great a tragedy. On 
the 11th of this instant,- we heard of many killed of our neighbors, in Fal- 
mouth, or Casco Bay. On the 12th instant, Mr. Joslin sent me a brief let- 
ter, written from under the hand of Mr. Burras (Burroughs) the minister. 
He gives an account of thirty-two killed and carried away by the Indians. 

" Himself escaped to an island, but I hope Black Point men have fetched 
him off by this time, — ten men, six women, sixteen children. How soon it 
will be our portion, we know not. The Lord in mercy fit us for death, and 
direct your hearts and hands to acknowledge and do what is most needful in 
such a time of distress as this! Thus, in haste, I commit you to the guid- 
ance of our Lord God, and desire your prayers for us. 1 

Some of the fugitives escaped to Jewell's Island, where there 
was a partially fortified house, and did not return to their deso- 
late habitations until the peace of Casco was made April 12, 
1678. The Indians, elate with their many victories, pursued in 
a fleet of canoes. The plumed warriors landed, not secretly, 
but with the shrill warwhoop shouting the battle-cry. It was 
the 2d of September. It seems almost incredible that these peo- 
ple could again have allowed themselves to be taken by surprise. 
The women were at some distance from the house, washing at a 
brook. The children were scattered along the beach. The men 
were absent fishing. No sentinel was stationed to announce the 
approach of the foe. 2 

The Indians landed and rushed towards the house, thus cut- 
ting off the retreat of the women and children, and leaving to 

1 " The original of this letter is in the family of John Palmer, Esq." — History 
of Portland, by Mr. Willis, p. 206, note. 

2 At the commencement of the first Indian war, 1675, there were in Falmouth 
forty-six families: viz., on the east side of the Presumpscot, nine; on the west side 
of the river, seven; around Back Cove, ten; at Capissic, toward Strandwater, 
five; on the Neck, four; in Purpoodic, nine; at Spurwink, two; forty houses, 
eighty militia, and four hundred inhabitants. In Aug. 11 of that year the town 
was assailed by the Indians, when thirty-four of the inhabitants were slain, and 
seventeen taken prisoners. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



193 



the men no alternative but to return to almost certain death, or 
to abandon Avife and child and escape only with life. 

There was a brave boy in. the house. The little fellow fired 
two guns, and shot two Indians. Thus the alarm was given to 
the men in the boats. Mrs. Potts was washing, with several 
children around her. The burly savages seized them all but 
one. A small boy, seeing his father rapidly approaching in his 
boat, rushed towards him. A savage gave chase, and grasped 
the child just as he reached the shore. The distracted father, 
seeing his whole family in the hands of the Indians, could easily 
have shot the savage, but he was restrained through fear of kill- 
ing his child. It is difficult to imagine the anguish with which 
he was compelled to seek safety in flight. From the brief 
account we have, it seems probable that he fled to Richman's 
Island to call for aid. 

The other men, as intrepid as they were imprudent, landed 
from their boats, cut their way through the Indians, who pru- 
dently never allowed themselves to be exposed to the guns of 
the English in the open field, and regained the fortress. But 
in the desperate movement two were killed, and five, probably 
wounded, were made prisoners. The assailants did not venture 
to approach within the reach of the bullets of these sharp shoot- 
ers. They soon retired, with their captives, across the bay to 
Spurwink. Soon after, a government vessel arrived, and took 
those of the English who remained, to a place of safety. 1 

Here again we regret to record an act of perfidy on the part 
of the English. It was treachery governmental in its nature. 
The General Court sent an army of a hundred and thirty Eng- 
lish and forty friendly Indians, from Natick, to the assistance of 
the people of Maine. Upon reaching Dover, they were em- 
bodied with the troops under Major Waldron. 

The major invited four hundred Indian warriors to come to 
Dover for a friendly conference, to see if they could not agree 
upon terms of peace. He pledged his honor for their safety. 
Promptly they came. It is probable that they really desired 
peace. But, when the English soldiers saw these savages, the 
memory of past massacres, burnings, and tortures rose so vividly 

1 History of Portland, by William Willis, p. 208; Williamson, vol. i. p. 229. 



194 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



before them, that it was with very great difficulty Major Wal- 
dron could restrain them from falling upon the warriors in mer- 
ciless slaughter. He pleaded with the soldiers that his honor 
was at stake, for that he had given his sacred word that they 
should come and go in safety. 

Harassed by the determination of his men, the major at last 
shamefully consented to a deed of infamy. He invited the 
Indians to unite with the English in a sham fight. During the 
manoeuvres, at a given signal, there was to be a grand discharge 
of all the guns. The English soldiers were secretly instructed 
to load their muskets with balls, and not to fire. The Indians, 
unsuspicious of treacheiy, discharged their guns. Thus ren- 
dered helpless, they were all seized and disarmed. 

Some of these Indians had ever been friendly. So far as 
known, they were picked out and set at liberty. Two hundred 
of the rest were sent prisoners to Boston. All who were con- 
victed of taking life were executed. The remainder were sent 
to foreign parts, and sold into lifelong slavery. 

There were many in the community who denounced this atro- 
cious deed. There were many who applauded it; but, worst of 
all, the government sustained it. 1 

The next day these troops proceeded to Falmouth in a vessel, 
touching at Wells, Winter Harbor, Black Point, and Spurwink. 
On the way they killed one Indian, and captured another, who 
soon after, aided, it is said, by the friendly Indians, effected his 
escape. At Casco they established a garrison, and remained 
there three weeks. Under this protection several of the inhab- 
itants returned. 2 

On the 23d of September seven men went to Munjoy's 

1 "The retribution for this iniquity was not long delayed. The Indian heart 
felt very deeply any wrong to which they were subjected ; and civilized man was 
thus laying up wrath against the day of wrath. All teachings of that character, 
received by these wild men, took deep root in their untutored souls; and, until so 
reduced in numbers that all resistance to the encroachments of the white man 
were in vain, they continued to bring forth, for nearly a century, their terrible 
fruits." — History of Wells and KennebunJc, by Edward E. Bourne, LL.D. p. 145; see 
also Williamson, vol. i. p. 538. 

2 There is some diversi :y of statement in reference to the sequence of some of 
these events, which it is not easy to disentangle ; but, as to the main facts, all the 
annalists of those days are agreed. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



195 



Island to kill a few sheep which had been left there. They 
were attacked by the Indians, and, after a desperate defence, 
were all killed. They were prominent men, heads of families, 
and their loss was bitterly deplored. 1 

The Indians were very wary, and, without difficulty, kept 
themselves at a safe distance from the troops. On the 12th of 
October the English returned to the region of the Piscataqua. 
On the second day after they passed Black Point, a hundred 
and twenty Indian warriors made a furious attack upon the gar- 
rison which was left behind. 2 "We have the list of sixty men 
who were in the garrison, which was said to be very strong. 
An Indian chief of much renown, by the name of Mugg, led 
the savages. Henry Jocelyn commanded the garrison. Mugg 
proved himself to be far the abler captain of the two. He 
summoned the inmates of the fortress to surrender, promising 
that all should be permitted to retire from the island unharmed, 
with their goods. Mugg must have had a good reputation; for 
Capt. Jocelyn 3 left the fort to hold a conference with him, thus 
placing himself in the power of the Indians. 

No treachery was practised. He returned unmolested to the 
fort. But there he found, greatly to his surprise, that, during 
his absence, all within the walls, except the members of his 
own household, availing themselves of the offer to retire with 
their goods, had hastily seized their effects, hurried to the boats, 
and had already put out from the shore. As Jocelyn had not 
accepted the proffered terms, finding himself thus utterly help- 
less, he was compelled to surrender at discretion. 

A naval expedition was sent to Richman's Island to rescue 
the inhabitants and the property there. As the sailors were 
removing the property, a part of them being on shore and a 
part on board the vessel, they were attacked by so overpower- 
ing a force of Indians, that those on shore were immediately 
shot or captured. Those on the deck were, by a deadly fire of 

1 Mr. Willis thinks that this sad event occurred on what is now called House 
Island —History of Portland, p. 209. 

2 Williamson, vol. i. p. 540. Mr. Willis writes, " They left this part of the coun- 
try in the beginning of October; and, about a week afterwards, the Indians rallied 
their forces, a hundred strong, and, Oct. 12, made an assault upon Black Point." 
— History of Portland, p. 210. 

3 Mr. Willis spells this name Jocelyn; Mr. Williamson spells it Joscelyn. 



196 



THE BISTORT OF MAINE. 



the savages, driven below. The assailants approached the vessel 
in their canoes, and cut the cables. A strong south-east wind 
drove the vessel ashore. 

Capt. Fryer, who was in command of the English party, had 
been struck by a bullet, and was lying upon the cabin floor, 
helplessly wounded and bleeding. The Indians shouted out to 
them, that unless they surrendered they would set the vessel 
on fire, and all should be burned to death. There were eleven 
in the hold. They agreed to surrender upon condition that 
they should be permitted to ransom themselves, by the payment 
of a stipulated amount of goods within a given time. 

Two of the prisoners were released to fetch the ransom. 
They returned with the goods before the appointed time had 
elapsed. But those Indians, who had agreed to the terms of the 
capitulation, were absent on a new expedition. Other Indians 
held the nine remaining captives. These savages killed one 
of the bearers of the ransom, took the goods, and refused to 
release the prisoners. " A true specimen this," Williamson 
writes, "of Indian faith." 

Winter came, with its fierce blasts and drifting snows. Still 
the war raged. Cabins and wigwams blazed. Everywhere 
terror and misery reigned. The Indians and the English were 
alike homeless and starving. The chieftain, Mugg, was dis- 
pleased with the treachery of the vagabond Indians in refusing 
to surrender the captives upon the receipt of the ransom. He 
ventured as an ambassador of his superior sagamore, Madocka- 
wando, to visit Piscataqua, in the endeavor to negotiate, if 
possible, a peace. He made no attempt to disguise his earnest 
desire for the cessation of hostilities. 

Mugg took with him, and restored to his friends, Capt. Fryer, 
who was dying of his wounds. He declared himself greatly 
mortified and indignant that the other captives had not been 
restored, and promised that they should speedily be set at lib- 
erty. According to Williamson, Mugg " was favored with an 
immediate passage to Boston, where he, in behalf of Madocka- 
wando and Cheberrind, negotiated a treaty." 1 

1 Mr. Drake, in his valuable Book of the Indians, gives a less pleasing account 
of this affair. He writes, "General Gendall of Massachusetts, being there, forced 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



197 



The treaty was certainly as favorable to the English as they 
could have desired. Indeed, it seems impossible that the Indi- 
ans could have fulfilled its stipulations. It was agreed that all 
hostilities should cease ; that all captives, and all vessels and 
goods, which had been seized by the Indians, should be restored ; 
that the English should receive full satisfaction for all the dam- 
ages they had experienced ; that the Indians should purchase 
ammunition only of agents appointed by the government ; and 
that certain Indians accused of crime should be surrendered 
for trial and punishment. 1 In conclusion of the treaty, this 
man, whom we call a savage, said, — 

11 In attestation of my sincerity and honor, I place myself a hostage, in 
yonr hands, till the captives, vessels, and goods are restored; and I lift my 
hand to heaven in witness of my honest heart in this treaty." 2 

Two war vessels were sent to the Penobscot to obtain from 
Madockawando the ratification of the treaty. All the articles 
received the sanction of the sagamore, and fifty or sixty cap- 
tives were restored to their desolated homes. But again we 
come upon contradictory statements which cannot be recon- 
ciled. Several of the tribes were much displeased with the 
terms of the treaty, in which every thing seemed to have been 
surrendered to the English. 

With considerable apparent apprehension, Mugg decided to 
visit the Canibas tribe at Teconnet, opposite the present site of 
Waterville, to persuade those disaffected warriors to consent to 
the peace, and to release their captives. In departing, he said 

Mugg on board his vessel, and carried him to Boston; for which treacherous act 
an excuse was pleaded, that he was not invested with sufficient authority to treat 
with him, Madockawando's ambassador, being now in the power of the English, 
was obliged to agree to such terms as the English dictated." — Book hi. p. 102. 

1 This treaty is given entire in the History of New England, by Daniel ISTeal, 
vol. ii. p. 403. 

2 " Mugg was the prime minister of the Penobscot sachem, an active and a 
shrewd leader, but who, by his intimacy with the English families, had worn off 
some of the ferocities of the savage character." — History of Portland, by William 
Willis, p. 217. v 

" Mugg was a chief among the Androscoggins, and very conspicuous in the war 
of 1676-7, into which he seems to have been brought by the same cause as Madock- 
awando, already stated. He had been very friendly to the English, and had lived 
some time with them." — Drake's Book of the Indians, book iii. p. 105. 



198 



THE U I STORY OF MAINE. 



to Capt. Moore, " If I do not return in four days, you may con- 
clude that I am certainly bereft of my life or my liberty." 

For some unexplained reason he did not return. Capt. 
Moore, after waiting a *week and hearing no tidings from him, 
sailed back to Boston. Mr. Hubbard, however, states that it 
was afterward reported that Mugg said boastfully to the Indians 
at Teconnet, " I know how we can even burn Boston, and drive 
all the English before us. But we must go first to the fishing 
islands, and take all the vessels of the white men." 1 

We feel bound to record this speech, though it does not seem 
to be at all in accordance with the character of Mugg, and rests 
only upon the foundation of rumor. The following incident is 
much more characteristic of this chief, and is sustained by 
ample evidence : — 

Among the captives found at Penobscot, there was a young 
man by the name of Cobbet. He was the son of a Christian 
minister at Ipswich. Having been disabled by a musket wound, 
he was seized and bound. In the division of the captives, it 
was his unfortunate lot to be assigned to one of the most bru- 
tal, drunken, and cruel of the savages. His sufferings were 
terrible. Several times he narrowly escaped having the knife 
of the savage plunged into his bosom. Just before Mugg's 
departure to Teconnet, the friendly chief chanced to meet this 
victim of demoniac cruelty, and to recognize him as one whom 
he had seen before. He called him by name, and said, " I saw 
your father in Boston. I promised him that his son should be 
returned to him. You must be released, according to the 
treaty." 

Madockawando and Capt. Moore were both standing by. 
The sagamore feared the fiendlike ferocity of the captive's 
master, and that Cobbet would certainly be killed if he were 
released without a ransom. 2 He therefore turned to Capt. 
Moore, and begged him to give as a ransom a showy military 

1 Narrative of the Indian Wars, by William Hubbard, p. 386. 

2 "Madockawando demanded a ransom, probably to satisfy the owner of the 
captive, fearing to be killed by him if he yielded him up, without he were there 
to consent; for he was, he baid, a desperate man if crossed, and had crumbed 
(killed) two or three in that way." Drake's Book of the Indians, book hi. p. 102. 
This may imply that Madockawando feared for his own life. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



199 



coat which he had in the vessel. The request was granted, 
and young Cobbet saw his master no more. 1 

Still there was no settled peace. Many of the Indians were 
dissatisfied. Though active hostile operations had ceased, there 
were rumors of threats to break the treaty, and it was said that 
some captives had not yet been returned. The General Court 
fitted out a naval expedition of two vessels to visit Casco, and 
ascend the Kennebec River. There were ninety Englishmen 
and sixty friendly Natick Indians on board the vessel. They 
were instructed " to subdue the Indians in those parts, and to 
deliver the English captives detained in their hands." Majors 
Waldron and Frost commanded the two vessels. 

This ill-starred expedition was as injudiciously conducted as 
it was unwisely commenced. The troops landed first upon 
Mare Point, in Brunswick, about three miles below Maquoit. It 
was then, in Maine, mid-winter. Freezing blasts shook the 
forests, and deep snow covered the ground. As a party stepped 
on shore, a small band of Indians met them, accompanied by 
Squando and the ferocious Simon, the " Yankee-killer." After 
a short parley, in which Simon declared that they sincerely 
desired peace, and that they sent Mugg to the English for that 
purpose, the Indians retired, and were seen no more until noon 
of the next day. 

A fleet of fourteen canoes was then seen ascending the bay ; 
and, propelled by paddles, they were rapidly approaching the 
shore near the spot where the vessels were anchored. Soon 
after, a log house was seen in flames. It w r as naturally supposed 
that the Indians had recommenced their work of conflagration 
and massacre. An armed band was immediately landed, and a 
battle ensued, in which several of the Indians were killed and 
many wounded. The English commenced the attack by firing 
upon the Indians. At length a flag of truce was raised, and 
the leaders of the two parties met. 

" Why," Major Frost demanded of the chiefs, " have you not 
returned all the captives ? Why have you set the white man's 
house on fire ? And why have you challenged us to fight ? " 

1 See Williamson, vol. i. p. 544, and Drake, book iii. p. 102. " The liistorians 
of the war," writes Drake, " have all observed that the prisoners, under Madock- 
awando, were remarkably well treated." 



200 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



The sagamores replied, " The captives are a great way off. 
The weather is so cold, and the snow so deep, that we could 
not bring them in. We did not set the house on fire : it took 
fire accidentally. It was no deed of ours. Your soldiers fired 
at us first, and we did but return the fire. This is our answer." 

Assuming that this statement were true, as it probably was, 
it must be admitted that, though the Indians were worsted in 
the battle, they had the best of the argument. The English 
having only exasperated the natives, and provoked them to 
revenge by the sight of their dead and their wounded comrades, 
again spread their sails, and, pressed by wintry blasts, traversed 
the icy seas to the mouth of the Kennebec. They landed on 
the western shore, opposite the foot of Arrowsic Island. Here 
they commenced building a block-house for the establishment 
of a garrison. It was the latter part of February, 1677. One- 
half of the men were set diligently at work there. 

On the 26th of February, Major Waldron, with the remainder 
of his company in the two vessels, sailed to Pemaquid to meet 
two or three sachems, who were accompanied by Indians from 
several tribes. It was arranged that a council should be held 
the next day, each party repairing to the rendezvous unarmed. 
The council met. Major Waldron complained of the hostile 
spirit still manifested by the Indians, that several captives had 
not yet been returned ; and he demanded that the tribes, then 
represented, should enter into an alliance with the English to 
attack the other Indian tribes which yet remained hostile. 

An aged sagamore replied, " Only a few of our young men, 
whom we cannot restrain, wish to enter upon the war-path. 
All the captives with us w r ere intrusted to our keeping by the 
Canabas Indians. For the support of each one of them there 
is due to us twelve beaver-skins and some good liquor." 

The liquor was promptly supplied, and ample ransom offered ; 
and yet but three captives were delivered. We have not been 
informed whether there were others so far away that they could 
not be delivered up in so short a time. 

The council adjourned, to meet again in the afternoon. Major 
Waldron was suspicious of treachery. In eagerly looking around 
he discovered some hidden weapons, and, seizing a lance, he 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



201 



brandished it in the air exclaiming, " You perfidious wretches ! 
you intended to rob us of our goods and then to kill us, did 
you?" 1 

A tumult ensued. The Indians, in consternation, fled. A 
well-armed party from the vessels hurried up, and pursued the 
unarmed Indians, shooting them down. Two of the chiefs and 
five of the Indians were killed by the bullet. Several of the 
savages rushed to a canoe. The boat was capsized ; five were 
drowned, the remainder were captured. One of the chiefs, 
Megunnaway, was dragged by Major Frost and an English 
sailor on board one of the vessels, and shot. 2 Among the cap- 
tives there Avas a sister of Madockawando. It will be remem- 
bered that one of the daughters of this renowned chieftain had 
married Baron Castine. 3 

In addition to the slaughter and the wounds thus inflicted 
upon the unarmed Indians, the English plundered them of their 
goods and of their provisions, amounting to a thousand pounds 
of beef. In allusion to this event, Mr. Williamson, who was by 
no means disposed to palliate the crimes of the Indians, has 
very justly remarked, — 

' 1 The chastisement partook of a severity which the provocation by no 
means justified; nor could it be dictated by motives of sound policy. It 
must have reminded the Indians of the mock fight at Dover, and served to 
increase their prejudices." 4 

From this inglorious enterprise, Majors Waldron and Frost 
returned to Arrowsic. There they captured and shot two In- 

1 "In February, 1G77, Major Waldron and Capt. Frost, with a body of men, 
were sent into the eastern coast to observe the motions of the Indians who still 
remained hostile. At Pemaquid they were invited on shore to hold a treaty, but 
the English, finding some weapons concealed among them, thought it a sufficient 
umbrage to treat them as enemies. A considerable fight ensiied, in which many 
of the Indians were killed, and several taken prisoners." — Drake's Book of the In- 
dians, book hi. p. 102. 

2 Drake's Book of the Indians, book hi. p. 110. 

8 Madockawando was chief of the Penobscot tribe. Some mischief had been 
done by the Androscoggin Indians. The English, following the example of those 
whom they so much reprobated, retaliated on any Indians that fell in their way. 
Madockawando was not an enemy ; nor do we learn that his people had com- 
mitted any depredations until after some English had spoiled his corn and other- 
wise done him damage." — Drake, book hi. p. 100. 

4 Williamson, vol. i. p. 547. 



202 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



dians whom they found upon the island. They also captured 
an Indian woman, whom they sent up the Kennebec River to 
Teconnet, to demand an exchange of prisoners. Taking some 
anchors and large guns which had been left there, they returned 
to their garrison on the main land. Leaving forty men for the 
defence of the works, they returned to Boston, reaching that 
port on the 11th of March. It was their boast that they had 
not lost a single man during the enterprise. But, by their folly, 
they had enkindled anew the flames of horrid war, in which 
multitudes of men, women, and children were to be consumed. 

The Mohawk Indians had the reputation of being the most 
powerful and ferocious of all the savage tribes. The govern- 
ment authorities in Massachusetts sent Majors Pinchon and 
Richards to the country of the Mohawks, to enlist them in the 
war against the eastern Indians. Many opposed this measure 
as barbarous ; others defended it on the ground that it was law- 
ful to make use of any advantage which Providence might place 
in their hands. 

Eagerly a band of Mohawks rushed to attack the Indians 
against whom they had no ground of quarrel. Their first ex- 
ploit was to fall recklessly upon a small party of friendly natives 
whom they chanced to meet, who were the allies of the Eng- 
lish. They pursued them hotly, and all but two or three were 
killed, or wounded and captured. Among the slain there was a 
noted chief, who, from the loss of an eye, was called Blind 
Will. He was grievously wounded, and crept away into the 
woods, where he perished miserably. 1 

The news of the arrival of the Mohawks, as the hireling sol- 
diers of the English, spread rapidly through the tribes in Maine, 
and roused them to the highest pitch of exasperation. Imme- 
diate and vigorous measures were adopted by them to attack 
York, Wells, and the garrison at the mouth of the Kennebec. 
Indeed, nearly all the other important points in Maine had 
already been laid desolate. 

1 "The death of Blind Will was the less lamented because of his supposed du- 
plicity, though his general conduct had always been in consistency with his pro- 
fessions. In any point of - 7 iew the event was unfortunate, as the introduction of 
the Mohawks to our assistance was altogether impolitic." — Williamson, vol. i. p. 
548. See also Trumbull's History of Connecticut, vol. i. p. 326; Hubbard's His- 
tory of New England, p. 630; Drake's Book of the Indians, bookiii. p. 330. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



203 



A party of English, from the garrison, visited Arrowsie. 
The Indians fired upon them from ambush, and shot down nine 
upon the spot. Three or four only succeeded in recovering 
their boat and escaping. This so disheartened and alarmed the 
survivors, that the post was abandoned, and the men were sent 
to other points. 

Savage bands, breathing threatening and slaughter, now 
pressed down from the northern and eastern portions of the 
Province, where they had no foes to encounter, to ravage the 
few trembling settlements in the vicinity of the Piscataqua. 
Seven men were at work in a field at York. The prowling 
savages shot them all down. 

Wells seemed doomed to utter destruction. The savages 
were as stealthy in their movements as the wolf in his midnight 
prowlings. No man could leave his cabin door in the morning, 
or go a few rods from his house into the field, without the 
apprehension that a savage might be concealed behind every 
rock, stump, or tree. The cattle were sure to be shot by an 
invisible foe unless carefully housed. 

On the 14th of April, a band of Indians, led by the cele- 
brated sagamore Simon, crossed the Piscataqua River to the 
Portsmouth side. They burned a house, and took a mother, 
with an infant child, and a young girl, captives. There was an 
aged woman in the family. Simon said that she should not be 
harmed, because in former years she had been kind to his grand- 
mother. He also gave the infant child to her to tend. It is 
difficult to reconcile the contradictory reports about this strange 
man. Sometimes he is represented as a demon ; and again he 
develops traits of character remarkably humane. He was one 
of the " praying Indians," so called, and seems certainly to 
have known the better way if he did not always follow it. 1 

1 It is said that on one occasion Simon sat with an English justice to decide 
upon a criminal case. Several women, Simon's wife among the rest, had com- 
mitted some offence. Judge Almy thought that they should he punished with 
eight or ten stripes each. 

"No," said Simon, "four or five are enough. Poor Indians are ignorant. It 
is not Christian to punish as severely those who are ignorant as those who have 
knowledge." 

This judgment prevailed. But then J udge Almy inquired, " How many stripes 
shall your wife receive? " Simon promptly replied, "Double, because she had 



204 



THE II I ST OR Y OF MAINE. 



On the 16th of May the Indians attacked with great boldness 
the garrison at Black Point. Lieut. Tappan defended it. For 
three days there was almost a constant battle. Three of the 
English were shot. One was captured, and was put to death 
with horrible torments. 

In this conflict the chieftain Mugg was struck by a bullet, 
and fell dead. This so disheartened the assailants that they 
retired. They left, by water, in two bands. One fleet of eleven 
canoes paddled to the eastward. The other band, in five canoes, 
proceeded towards York and Wells, killing and burning as they 
had opportunity. 1 

A new force was raised, by the General Court, of two hundred 
Natick Indians and ninety white men, consisting principally of 
those whom the Indians had driven from Maine. Capt. Ben- 
jamin Swett and Lieut. Richardson, two very brave and very 
imprudent men, were placed in command. They reached the 
fort at Black Point in high spirits, on the 28th of June. The 
shrewd savages, who, in large numbers, were hovering around, 
began as usual to prepare their ambuscade. The English offi- 
cers, as usual, commenced their march into it. 

The Indians sent out their decoy. The ninety white men 
rushed out upon them. The Indians feigned a retreat. Their 
victims followed. With pell-mell inconsiderateness, the English 
pursued their foes till they were entirely in the trap. There 
was a dense forest on one side, a swamp, covered with an im- 
penetrable thicket, on the other. Both sides were filled with 
Indian warriors, laughing at the folly of the white men. There 
was a volley of musketry from an invisible foe, followed by a 

knowledge to have done better." Judge Aliny, out of regard to Simon, remitted 
his wife's punishment entirely. Simon seemed much disturbed; but at the time 
he made no reply. Soon afterwards, however, he remonstrated very severely 
against the decision of the judge. 

"To what purpose," said he, "do Ave preach a religion of justice, if we do 
unrighteousness in judgment? " — Drake's Book of the Indians, book i. p. 22. 

This anecdote may be apocryphal; but, if fabricated, it shows the reputation 
he enjoyed as a man of discretion. It is said that this event took place when 
Simon was an aged man, and when, by the power of Christianity, his character 
may have been greatly changed. 

1 "Mugg had alternately brightened and shaded his own character until the 
most skilful pencil would find it difficult to draw its just portrait. His address 
was inspiring, and his natural good sense and sagacity partially inclined him to 
be an advocate for peace." — Williamson, vol. i. p. 550. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



205 



continuous, rapid discharge. The dead and the wounded were 
dropping in all directions. Lieut. Richardson was one of the 
first shot down. 

It was an awful scene of tumult and slaughter. The hideous 
yells of the Indians almost drowned the rattle of musketry. 
Capt. Swett, as brave as he was reckless, fought like a lion. 
Slowly he commenced a retreat of two miles, endeavoring to 
carry his wounded with him. The savages, flushed with their 
victory, hung upon his rear, manifesting even more than their 
ordinary ferocity. In their outnumbering strength they so 
crowded the fugitives that there were frequent hand-to-hand 
fights. In this terrible retreat Capt. Swett received twenty 
wounds. At length, when exhausted by fatigue and the loss 
of blood, he was seized by a burly savage, hurled to the ground, 
and was literally hewn in pieces by the tomahawk. Sixty of 
his men perished in this terrible disaster. It sent lifelong woes 
to many families, whose cup of misery seemed already full to 
the brim. Capt. Swett had won universal respect by his bravery 
and his many virtues. His death was deeply lamented. 1 

There can be no question that the responsibility of this war 
rests mainly with the white men. The Indians desired peace ; 
but, when goaded to war by intolerable wrongs, they conducted 
the conflict in accordance with the dictates of their own savage 
natures. Mr. Bourne very truthfully says, — 

" The wickedness of man was about to bring its deadly influences to the 
ruin of the peace and progress of the settlement. King Philip, believing 
himself wronged in his intercourse with the white man, and ruminating on 
the cruel kidnappings of his brothers and the English usurpation of his 
domains, determined to destroy the cruel intruders. His intellectual power 
was far in advance of the generality of the sachems. He claimed to have 
free communication with the Great Spirit, and to derive from this inter- 
course, instructions as to his manner of life; and he told the tribe that the 
white men were bent on driving them from their possessions, and called 
upon them, as with the voice of the great Father, to destroy them from off 
the land." 2 

1 "There were slain at this time somewhat above forty of the English and 
twelve of the friendly Indians that assisted; very few escaping, but were either 
killed right out or dangerously wounded." — HubbarcT s History of New England, 
p. G34. See also Belknap's History of New Hampshire, vol. i. p. 128; Collections 
of Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. vi. p. 263. 

2 History of Wells and Kennebunk, by Edward E. Bourne, LL.D., p. 138. 



CHAPTER XII. 



WARS AND "WOES CONTINUED. 

Kavages of the Indians — The Naval Expedition — Peace proclaimed — Losses 
by the War — The Purchase of Maine by Massachusetts — The Regime of Mr. 
Danforth — North Yarmouth incorporated — Baptist Church established — 
Menaces of War — Employment of the Mohawks — Sir Edmund Andros — 
Thomas Dungan — Tyrannical Acts — Attack upon Baron Castine — War 
renewed — Fate of Waldron — Expeditions to Quebec aud Montreal. 

THE savages were now sweeping all opposition before them. 
They ravaged the coast from Casco Bay to Wells. Prowl- 
ing into the harbors by night, they seized twenty fishing vessels. 
Most of these were from Massachusetts. Each of these vessels 
had on board four or five men and boys. Taken by surprise at 
midnight, as a dozen Indian warriors leaped from their canoes 
upon the deck, they could make no resistance. 

Immediately a vessel of war was despatched, manned with 
forty seamen, to pursue and capture the foe. This was indeed 
like chasing a flea upon the mountains. They recovered most 
of the fishing vessels, which the savages had abandoned with- 
out burning them ; 1 but not a solitary Indian was anywhere to 
be found. It was feared that the French would take advantage 
of these calamities to extend their swaj 7 to the Kennebec. Sir 
Edmund Andros sent a military force from New York to 
Pemaqnid, to take possession of the country, and erect a fort. 
He was quite successful in securing the confidence of the natives 
in the immediate region around, and a beneficial traffic was 

1 " The Indians, finding their inability to manage such kind of vessels, much 
too heavy for them to wield with paddles, grew soon weary of that sport, and 
were pretty willing to return the vessels to the English, after they had pillaged 
out of them what was for their turn." — Hubbard's History of New England, p. 635. 
206 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



207 



introduced. They brought in fifteen captives, and surrendered 
several vessels which they had taken. Thus pleasantly, in fra- 
ternal intercourse, the autumn and winter passed away at 
Pemaquid. Other tribes heard of these blessings of peace, and 
desired to share in them. Three English commissioners met 
Squando, and the sagamores of the Kennebec and the Andros- 
coggin tribes, on the 12th of August, 1678, at Casco. 1 

The articles of peace were few and simple. All hostilities 
were to cease. Every English family was to pay one peck of 
corn annually, as a quit-rent for the land they had gained from 
the Indians. Major Phillips of Saco, who had very extensive 
possessions, was to give one bushel each year. All captives on 
each side were to be surrendered without ransom. Some of 
the English regarded these conditions as humiliating to them ; 
but all considered them as preferable to the continuance of the 
warfare which was desolating the colonies. King Philip's war 
was thus, ere long, brought to a close in Massachusetts as well 
as Maine. It was generally admitted that the sagamores were 
not unjust in their demands. 

The Indians had certainly a possessory right to the country 
which the English had invaded. Large tracts of territory had 
been obtained from them by purchases of very questionable 
legality. In many cases there was no question as to the fraud 
by which the English title-deed had been gained. In the war, 
the success of the Indians in Maine had been so remarkable 
as to warrant them in assuming the tone of victors. Under 
these circumstances their exactions were by many deemed mod- 
erate. 2 

The losses sustained during the war, by the inhabitants of 
Maine, were enormous. Two hundred and sixty were killed, or 
carried into captivity from which they never returned. There 
were, undoubtedly, many others who thus perished, of whom no 
record was made. The numbers severely wounded have never 
been counted. The settlements at Cape Neddock, Scarbor- 
ough, Casco, Arrowsic, and Pemaquid, were laid in ashes. One 

1 Neal's History of New England, p. 407. See also History of New Hamp- 
shire, by Jeremy Belknap, vol. i. p. 129. 

2 "Williamson, vol. i. p. 553. 



208 



TIIE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



hundred and fifty men, women, and children, were taken captive, 
who, after months of often terrible sufferings, were finally 
restored to their friends. It is estimated, that, in the several 
colonies, six hundred men were killed, twelve hundred houses 
burned, eight thousand cattle destroyed, and seven hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars expended in military operations. 
The immense losses by the ravages of the war cannot be cal- 
culated. 1 

The purchase of Maine by the Colony of Massachusetts 
greatly annoyed the tyrannical king of England. The dissolute 
monarch was intending to make a transfer of the territory of 
Maine and New Hampshire, to his son the Duke of Monmouth, 
who was not of legitimate birth. He wrote angrily to the 
Colonial Government, — 

" We were much surprised, while listening to the complaints of Mr. 
Gorges, that you should presume, without asking our royal permission, to 
purchase his interest in the Province of Maine, acquainted, as you know we 
are, with some of the effects of the severe hand you have holden over our 
subjects there." 2 

The Province of Maine, purchased by Massachusetts, was 
supposed to contain about nine thousand six hundred square 
miles. Its measurement was eighty by one hundred and twenty 
miles. 3 The question as to the government of the Province 
was involved in many difficulties. Civil power, it was said, 
could not be bought and sold ; and a public functionary could 
not delegate authority which he had received from the king. 

It was finally decided to frame a civil code in conformity 
with the royal charter granted Sir Ferdinando Gorges. A 
president was to be chosen annually. There was to be a legis- 
lature consisting of two branches. The upper house was to 
consist of the president's council, of eight members. The lower 
house was to be composed of representatives chosen by the 
towns. The legislative body was to meet once a year. 

1 Records of Massachusetts Government, vol. 4, pp. 147-359. See also, Hutch- 
inson's Collection of State Papers, p. 493. 

2 Idem, p. 451. 

3 Summary of British Settlements in North America, hy William Douglass, 
voL i. p. 389. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



209 



Mr. TJiomas Danforth of Cambridge, deputy governor of 
Massachusetts, was appointed president. He was a gentleman 
of accomplished education and great moral worth. An English- 
man by birth, he had in early life come to this country, and 
had filled many offices of influence and honor. He was a firm 
republican in his principles, and was ever ready to resist the en- 
croachments of arbitrary power. 1 

Pres. Danforth found many difficulties to be encountered. 
There were, in Maine, many staunch royalists ; and all such 
were warm advocates of the ecclesiastical polity of the Church 
of England. These people were very unwilling to become the 
subjects of republican Massachusetts ; and bitter were the com- 
plaints which they were continually sending to the crown. The 
king threatened even to reclaim the Province. He wrote to the 
General Court, — 

" It is marvellous that you should exclude from office, gentlemen of good 
lives and estates, merely because they do not agree with you in the congre- 
gational way ; especially since liberty of conscience was the principal motive 
of your first emigration. Nor is this the only thing to be noticed. The 
title-deeds of Maine, we expect, will be surrendered to the crown, on the 
advancement of the purchase money and interest." 2 

An active and implacable minority may raise outcries which it 
is very difficult even for a large majority to silence. Agents 
were sent over from England to spy out defects, and to manu- 
facture complaints. One Edward Randolph was despatched 
upon this mission, as searcher ; and he was particularly active in 
the service. He hunted up all individual outrages, exaggerated 
them, and ascribed them all to criminality of the government. 
These malignant aspersions were scattered broadcast throughout 
England. In response, the General Court with dignity re- 
plied, — 

" Our lives and our treasures have been unsparingly sacrificed to rescue 
Maine from the utter ruin attempted by a barbarous and bloody enemy; 

1 Biographical Dictionary of Rev. Dr. Allen, article Danforth, Thomas. 

2 This important letter is given entire in Hutchinson's Collection of State 
Papers, pp. 519-522. 

Hutchinson says that the price paid was twelve hundred pounds. The York 
Records represent it as twelve hundred and fifty pounds. 
14 



210 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



sacrifices for which we have never received nor requested of the provincials 
the least remuneration. We have, from many of them, the fullest assur- 
ances of their past satisfaction with our course, and of their desire still to be 
connected with us, and their unwillingness to hazard a change. And as we, 
without the least shadow of disloyalty, obtained title to the Province a 
twelvemonth after his majesty had decided it to be in Gorges, it is our duty 
to favor the inhabitants, and provide them with a free systematic admin- 
istration. ' ' 1 

Upon the southerly shore of Casco Neck, there was a fortress 
called Fort Loyal. It was situated near the end of what has 
since been called King's Street. It had a small garrison, under 
command of Capt. Edward Tyng, 2 and was well provided with 
the munitions of war. In August, 1680, Pres. Danforth, with 
Mr. Samuel Nowel 3 and Mr. Nathaniel Saltonstall, as assistants, 
accompanied by sixty soldiers, sailed for Fort Loyal. 4 

On the 22d of September, the township of North Yarmouth 
was established. It took its name, probably, from Yarmouth, 
England. Its boundaries then embraced Freeport, Pownal, 
and Cumberland. This was the eighth town established, if we 
except Appledore, which embraced the Isle of Shoals, and 
which was incorporated in 1661, but which did not long retain 
its name. The history of Yarmouth is one of rather peculiar 
interest. There is a small stream here called Royall or Weste- 
custego River, about fifteen miles in length, taking its rise in 
New Gloucester. It has a good harbor at its mouth, where the 
ancient settlements were commenced. William Royall came 
over in 1630, and purchased this region of Gorges in 1643. In 
1658 he settled on the east side of the river, and erected a 
fort ; but in the year 1676 the Indians laid all tilings waste. 
In 1680 the settlement was revived. 

In June, 1681, Pres. Danforth and his council met in general 
assembly. It is not now known how many representatives were 
sent from the towns. Four years after, there were twelve rep- 

1 Records of Massachusetts Government, voL iv. p. 469. 

2 Williamson, vol. i. p. 563. 

s Rev. Samuel Nowel had been a Christian minister. He was a irian of supe- 
rior mind and attainments, was universally respected for his virtues, and was 
ardently devoted to republican principles of government. — Hutchinson's Collec- 
tions, vol. i. p. 538. 

4 Sullivan, p. 182; Williamson, p. 401. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



211 



resentatives. Among other very judicious laws which were 
enacted, one imposed a fine of twenty shillings for every pint of 
intoxicating drink any one should sell to the Indians. 

It seems probable that the Episcopal denomination was then 
the leading one in the State. In the year 1681 the Baptists 
first commenced operations. Several were baptized by immer- 
sion, in Kittery, and Rev. William Screven became their reli- 
gious- teacher. He was born in England in 1629, and in early 
life emigrated to this country. He appears to have been truly 
a good man, of accomplished scholarship, and endowed with 
unusual powers of eloquence. 

His preaching was successful, and converts were multiplied. 
The attention of the magistrates was arrested. Mr. Screven 
was summoned before them, charged with preaching without 
governmental authorization. He was fined ten pounds, and 
ordered no more to hold any religious service. His refusal to 
obey was deemed contempt of his Majesty's authority. It was 
therefore ordered, that — 

"Mr. Screven, in future, forbear from his turbulent and contentious 
practices, give bonds for his good behavior, and stand committed until the 
judgment of the court be complied with." 

It is humiliating to record such intolerance on the part of 
our forefathers ; but it should be remembered that it was the 
intolerance of the age, rather than of the individuals. Notwith- 
standing this persecution, a church of eight members was 
organized, and in September of 1682 they emigrated to Cooper 
River in South Carolina. It is pleasant to state, that, so far 
as is known, no other instance of religious intolerance has ever 
been laid to the charge of the government of Maine. 1 

Prosperity was rapidly reviving throughout the Province. 
Scarborough had risen from its ashes, so that it contained fifty- 
six ratable polls, many well-cultivated fields, and eighty cows. 
A tax was assessed, by the General Assembly, of two shillings 
on every one hundred acres of woodland, provided they were 
beyond the limits of any corporate town. It is said that thus 



1 Williamson, vol. i. p. 570. 



212 



TEE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



originated the custom of taxing unimproved lands at a lower 
rate than other property. It is estimated that the population of 
the Province in 1682 amounted to between six and seven 
thousand. New Hampshire contained about four thousand. 1 

On the 16th of February, 1685, the infamous king of England, 
Charles II., died. His brother succeeded him, as James II. 
A little before this, a very important purchase was made of the 
Indians, which was called the Pejepscot Purchase. By this 
transaction Wavumbee and five other sagamores conveyed to 
Richard Wharton a territory, as was supposed, containing 
about five hundred thousand acres, embracing not only the 
present towns of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, but ex- 
tending east to the Kennebec River. The boundaries were, 
however, so indefinite, as to cause subsequently much litiga- 
tion. 2 

Under Pres. Danforth, the legislative body had annual meet- 
ings ; and, for six years, the government was administered to 
the general acceptance of the inhabitants. A pretty strong 
garrison was maintained at Fort Loyal. Much attention was 
paid to securing to proprietors a legal title to their lands. 
Fort Loyal became the jail for Saco, Scarborough, Falmouth, 
and North Yarmouth. 

In the spring of 1685, the Indians of Maine were thrown into 
a terrible panic by the rumor that the English were preparing 
to send an army of ferocious Mohawks for their utter extermi- 
nation. The terror Avas profound and universal. The saga- 
more of the Penacook tribe wrote imploringly to the governor 
of New Hampshire, saying, — 

"If you will not let the Mohawks come and kill us, we will be submissive 
to your worship forever. ' ' 

1 Political Annals of the United Colonies, by George Chalmers, p. 404. 

2 Wharton Avas a Boston merchant. He affirmed that the line extended from 
the Upper Falls of the Androscoggin, which he declared to he Lewiston Falls, 
entirely across the country, in a north-east line, to the Kennebec; and that it in- 
cluded all land between the two rivers, as far south as Merrymeeting Bay. On the 
west it embraced territory f onr miles wide down to Maquoit. It also included the 
land on the west side of the Kennebec, south of Merrymeeting Bay, down to 
Cape Small Point; and on the eastern side of the Sagadahoc, to the ocean, in- 
cluding Arrowsic, and several other islands. — Summary of British Settlements in 
North America, vol. i. p. 230. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



213 



Suspicion led to animosity on both sides, and to various un- 
friendly acts. Even the panic-stricken flight of the Indians 
was deemed an indication that they were preparing for another 
war. Capt. Hook of Kittery wrote to Capt. Barefoot of Ports- 
mouth, under date of the 13th of August, 1685, saying, — 

" From information received by a foot-post, there are just grounds for 
apprehending some designs of the heathen against us. ' They have,' he 
says, 1 lately been guilty of affronts in the vicinity of Saco, threatening the 
people, and killing their dogs; and, within the last three days, they have 
gathered up all their corn, and moved off, bag and baggage.' " 

A council was held, which was promptly attended by the 
sagamores, who declared that they had no desire for war, and 
wished only for the continuance of peace. 

The sagamore of Penacook, Kankamagus by name, usually 
called John Hawkins, or Hoykins, was present. He had written 
the letter to Gov. Cranfield of New Hampshire, to which we 
have above referred ; and it was signed by fourteen of his princi- 
pal men. He lived upon the Androscoggin, with another dis- 
tinguished chief by the name of Worombo, 1 or Worombos. 

The chiefs of four tribes were present at the council. They 
not only manifested no antagonistic spirit, but seemed ready to 
assent to any terms which the English might dictate. They 
even yielded to the following extraordinary demand, that — 

"Whenever the Indians shall remove with their wives and children, with- 
out giving timely notice to the English, they may be apprehended, or war 
may be made upon them till the sagamores shall render satisfaction. ' ' 2 

1 "Kankamagus was a faithful man as long as he could depend upon the 
English for protection. But when Gov. Cranfield of New Hampshire used his 
endeavors to bring down the Mohawks to destroy the eastern Indians, in 1684, 
who were constantly stirred up by the French to commit depredations upon the 
English, Kankamagus, knowing the Mohawks made no distinction where they 
came, fled, and joined the Androscoggins. Before he fled his country, he addressed 
several letters to the governor, which discover his fidelity as well as his fears, 
and from which there is no doubt that he would always gladly have lived in his 
own country, and on the most intimate and friendly terms with the English, — to 
whom he had become attached, and had adopted much of their manner, and 
could read and write, — but for the reasons just stated." — Drake's Book of the 
Indians, book iii. p. 106. 

2 History of New Hampshire. By Jeremy Belknap, vol. i. p. 186. See, also, 
Hutchinson's History, vol. i. p. 316. 



214 



TIIE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Affairs in Massachusetts were in rather a chaotic condition. 
The king had annulled the Colonial Charter, had put an end to 
the General Court, and had appointed Joseph Dudley president 
of Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. 
Dudley was a graduate of Harvard College, a man of superior 
abilities, and of boundless ambition. 

After a brief but unpopular administration of but about five 
months, he was superseded by Sir Edmund Andros. The local 
government in Maine now ceased, and was not resumed until 
1820, when Maine was finally separated from Massachusetts. 1 

Andros, it will be remembered, had been the appointed gov- 
ernor of the Duke of York, now James II., over the colonies at 
the mouths of the Manhattan and the Sagadahoc Rivers. He 
was the fitting servant of his master, imperious and tyrannical. 
He turned his special, attention to his Sagadahoc province. 
He took formal possession of the country, and made preparations 
to defend it against any enemy, whether Indians, French, or 
Dutch. Nothing of especial interest marked his administration. 
He was arrogant and tyrannical, and was very unpopular. 

In 1683 Andros was succeeded by Col. Thomas Dungan. 
He was a much better man, and cherished far more elevated 
views of human rights, and still he was at a very considerable 
remove from the Massachusetts principles of republican equality. 
In New York he convoked a legislative assembly ; but, at Sag- 
adahoc, he appointed two commissioners, John Palmer and 
John West, whom he invested with plenary powers. 

In 1686 they repaired to Pemaquid. Many of the inhabitants, 
who had been driven from their homes by the horrors of the 
war, had returned. The region was at that time called the 
County of Cornwall. The commissioners proved to be despotic 
men, " arbitrary as the Grand Turk." 2 They contrived, in vari- 
ous ways, to extort enormous taxes from the impoverished and 
war-stricken people. They took especial care of themselves 
and friends, appropriating from six to ten thousand acres of 
land to each. 3 It is enough to make one's blood boil with 

1 History of Portland. By William Willis, p. 238. 

2 Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii. p. 510. 

3 Hutchinson's Collection, p. 547. 



THE II 1ST OR T OF MAINE. 



215 



indignation to contemplate the leaseholds they forced from the 
people, and the rents they imposed upon them for the occupa- 
tion of their own homesteads. Thus they wrested from these 
settlers nearly three thousand dollars a year. 

Mr. Sullivan gives us a copy of one of these leaseholds, in- 
flicted upon poor John Dalling of Monhegan, who had returned 
penniless to his burnt cabin and wild lands. It is drawn up with 
much legal formality, in the name of " Our most gracious sove- 
reign lord, James II., by the grace of God King of England, 
Scotland, France, and Ireland." After a ludicrously detailed 
account of the premises, John Dalling is authorized to plant 
his corn there, upon condition of — 

" Yielding and paying therefor yearly, and every year, unto our sove- 
reign lord the king, his heirs or successors, or to such governor or other 
officer as from time to time shall be by him or them appointed to receive the 
same, on every twenty-fifth day of March forever, as a quit rent, or acknowl- 
edgment for the said land, one bushel of merchantable wheat, or the value 
thereof in money. ' ' 1 

Dungan claimed the county as far east as the River St. Croix. 2 
A shipmaster from Piscataqua, not aware of this claim, and 
supposing that the region beyond the Penobscot belonged to 
the French, sent a cargo of wines there. As they were landed, 
without having paid duties at Pemaquid, Palmer and West 
seized and confiscated the cargo. This roused, not only the 
indignation of the French, but that, also, of the Massachusetts 
people. The clamor rose so loud, that the wines were restored. 

Dungan's administration lasted five years. He influenced 
several Dutch families to emigrate to the Sagadahoc. In 1688 
Sir Edmund Anclros was appointed captain-general and vice- 
admiral of New England, New York, and the Jerseys. He 
formed a council of twenty-five members, five of whom consti- 
tuted a quorum. All legislative, judicial, and executive func- 
tions were blended in this department. There were no consti- 
tutional limits. The governor and his council did as they 
pleased. 2 

1 Sullivan's History of Maine, p. 163. 2 Hutchinson's Collections, p. 548. 

8 " But a few months before, he had been appointed, governor of Massachusetts, 
Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Plymouth, Pemaquid, and Narragansett, or 
Rhode Island." — Summary of British Settlements in North America, by William 
Douglass, p. 374. 



216 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



The governor soon developed all the execrable traits of a 
despot. He seldom convened more than seven or eight of his 
council, and they were all the pliant instruments of his will. 

The Church of England was recognized as the only legal form 
of worship ; and all who assembled for congregational religious 
service were threatened with the confiscation of their meeting:- 
houses. Freedom of the press was restrained. The land-titles, 
generally, were declared to be invalid ; and it was proclaimed 
that new title-deeds must be obtained. The annoyances to 
which the people were exposed were innumerab e, and vexatious 
in the extreme. 

Andros was alike greedy of wealth and of despotic power. 
The king, James II., from whom he derived all his authority, 
was an avowed Papist. But the people of England were not in 
sympathy with their monarch. Desiring to take military pos- 
session of the Penobscot and the St. Croix, Andros repaired to 
Pemaquid, where he had ordered the frigate " Rose "to be pre- 
pared for his expedition. The frigate, having sailed, cast anchor 
near the habitation of Baron Castine, at Biguyduce. 1 

The baron, with his family, fled into the woods, abandoning 
every thing. The ignoble governor plundered his house of all 
its valuables ; but he left untouched the Catholic chapel, with 
all its rich adornments. 

Andros returned to Pemaquid, where he had invited the 
neighboring sagamores to meet him. They met in council. 
Andros, addressing the most prominent chief, a Tarratine 2 sag- 
amore, said, — 

"I warn you never to follow the French, or to fear them. Be quiet, live 
in peace, and we will protect you. Tell your friend Castine, that, if he 
will render loyal obedience to the King of England, every article taken from 
him shall be restored. ' ' 

Andros was delighted with Pemaquid and its surroundings. 
He took an excursion among the islands, and ascended the 
Kennebec several leagues. He thought that Pemaquid was 
destined to be the chief mart for all the eastern country, and 

1 Hutchinson's Collection <^f State Papers, p. 5G2. 

2 It will be remembered that the Tarratines occupied the valley of the Penob- 
scot 



TEE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



217 



made an effort to have an account taken of all the white in- 
habitants between the Penobscot and the St. Croix. They 
amounted to less than fifty, counting men, women, and chil- 
dren. 1 

Andros returned to New York in 1688, having appointed 
Nicholas Manning chief magistrate in the " Province of the 
Duke of York, called Sagadahoc, or the County of Cornwall." 

Baron Castine was a man of great influence, not only Avith 
his countrymen, the French, but with all the neighboring Indian 
tribes, with whom he had so thoroughly identified himself. His 
indignation was, of course, aroused, and that of all his friends, by 
the wanton plunder of his estate. He appealed to the Indians. 
War-clouds soon began to darken the sky. Castine declared 
that he would never submit to the domination of the English. 

Andros began to enlist soldiers, and to erect forts at many 
important points between Piscataqua and Penobscot. Hostilities 
were commenced in August. It is impossible to follow, with 
chronological accuracy, the details. The Inclians killed the 
cattle in the eastern settlements, and insulted and threatened 
the inhabitants. At Saco, the magistrates unjustly seized fifteen 
or twenty unoffending Indians, and held them as hostages for 
the good behavior of the rest. The Indians retaliated by seiz- 
ing some Englishmen. 

Andros, then in New York, wishing to try the effect of con- 
ciliatory measures, ordered the Indian prisoners to be set at 
liberty. He issued a pacific proclamation. But all was in vain. 
The inhabitants of Maine generally took refuge in garrison 
houses. Stockades were constructed in North Yarmouth, on 
each side of Ro} r all River. A party engaged in constructing 
these works under Capt. Gendall. A band of seventy or eighty 
Indians attacked him. He repelled them, after a severe con- 
flict, in which several were slain on each side. This was the 
first blood which was spilled in what was called the second 
war. In the evening, after the skirmish, Capt. Gendall and his 
servant fell into an ambuscade, and were both killed. John 
Royall was taken captive ; but he was kindly ransomed by 
Baron Castine. 2 

1 Collections of Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. i. p. 82, 3d ser. 

2 History of Portland, by William Willis, p. 273. 



218 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



- Early in November, seven hundred English soldiers were sent 
to Pemaquid. 1 About one hundred and fifty-six men were left 
here to garrison the fort. Garrisons were also established at 
several other places along the coast. Five hundred and sixty 
soldiers were east of the Kennebec. The troops suffered severely 
on this campaign, while they encountered not a single Indian. 2 

Gov. Andros became increasingly unpopular ; and his author- 
ity in the distant Province of Maine was subverted by a popu- 
lar uprising in April, 1689, in Boston, which threw the governor 
and thirty of his most obnoxious partisans into prison. The 
troops revolted from their officers, and many abandoned their 
posts. The consequence was, that the French and Indians cap- 
tured the fort, and almost depopulated the country. The same 
disaster took place at New Castle and Falmouth. 3 

At Saco the Indians were repelled ; but they took Dover 
by surprise, and cruelly slaughtered many of the inhabitants. 
We have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the following 
account of this disaster, given by Samuel G. Drake : — 

" The Indians rushed into Waldron's house in great numbers; and, while 
some guarded the door, others commenced the slaughter of all who resisted. 
Waldron was now eighty years of age; yet, seizing his sword, he defended 
himself with great resolution, and at first 'drove the Indians before him, 
from room to room, until one, getting behind him, knocked him down with 
his hatchet. They now seized upon him, and, dragging him into the great 
room, placed him in an armed chair, upon a table. 

" While they were thus dealing with the master of the house, they obliged 
the family to provide them with a supper, which when they had eaten, they 
took off: his clothes, and proceeded to torture him in the most dreadful man- 
ner. Some gashed his breast with knives, saying, ' I cross out my account.' 
Others cut off joints of his fingers, saying, ' Now will your fist weigh a 
pound? ' " 4 

1 Willis, following Belknap, says seven hundred ; Holmes, Am. Ann. p. 474, 
says eight hundred ; Eliot states the number at a thousand. 

2 " All this was merely a military movement, or display, neither the result of 
wisdom, experience, nor sound judgment. Had he been in the least acquainted 
with the habits of the Indians, or listened even to the statements of hunters, he 
would have known that these tenants of the forest retire in the autumn from 
the seaboard, and pass the winter upon their hunting-berths in the interior of the 
wilderness." — Williamson, vol. i. p. 596. 

Williamson gives a list of eleven settlements along the coast, at which these 
troops were distributed. 

3 Massachusetts Historical Collections, 3d ser. p. 85. 

4 Drake's Book of the Indians, book hi. p. 108. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



219 



After continuing this torture for some time, they let him fall 
upon his own sword, and thus put an end to his misery. Wal- 
dron had the reputation of being one of the most perfidious and 
unscrupulous cheats in his treatment of the Indians. When 
they paid him what was due, he would neglect to cross out their 
accounts. In buying beaver-skins by weight, he insulted the 
intelligent Indians by insisting that his fist weighed just one 
pound. The day of retribution came; and the savages wreaked 
their utmost vengeance upon their victim. They held the place 
till morning. Then, with twenty-nine captives and all the 
plunder they could carry away, they set out for Canada. The 
French ransomed the prisoners ; and they were eventually re- 
turned to their friends. 1 

Upon the overthrow of Andros, the assembled people ap- 
pointed a council of thirty-seven men to secure the public safe- 
ty. A few weeks after this great revolution, the joyful tidings 
reached Boston, that the tyrant James II. had been driven from 
his throne and his kingdom, and had been succeeded by William, 
Prince of Orange. 

Maine was in a deplorable condition. Her people were with- 
out any settled government, and were involved in a war from 
which they could reap nothing but disasters ; for victory could 
bring them no gains. The Council of Safety, apparently with 
the cordial assent of the people of Maine, assumed the super- 
vision of the Ducal Province. 

The illustrious chieftain Madockawando, whose daughter, it 
will be remembered, married Baron Castine, visited Boston, ac- 
companied by several sachems, in the endeavor to secure peace. 
Their bearing was not that of savages, but that of uneducated 
men of strong common sense, who thoroughly understood the 
true posture of affairs. The chief, Madockawando, was the 
principal speaker. The substance of his communication was as 
follows : — 

1 "The seizure at that place (Dover), of four hundred Indians, more than 
twelve years before, was a transaction never to he forgotten, never to he forgiven, 
hy savages. Lapse of time had only wrought their resentment into animosities, 
malice, and rage; and an opportunity now offered to satiate their revenge." — 
Williamson, vol. i. p. 610. 



220 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



" Baron Castine was deeply offended by the unprovoked attack upon his 
house, and the plunder of his premises. The French, his countrymen, re- 
garded it as a national insult and a proclamation of war. The Indians who 
had adopted Baron Castine into their tribe, and made him a chief, considered 
it no less an act of hostility against them. Thus a terrible war must rage, 
unless terms of peace can be agreed upon." 

The government treated the distinguished Indian envoys with 
great courtesy, assuring them of its entire disapproval of the 
conduct of Andros, whom the people had ejected from office. 
They loaded the chiefs with presents, and conveyed them home 
in a colony sloop. They sent, also, a very conciliatory letter to 
'Baron Castine. But storms of war were rising in Europe, which 
dashed angry billows upon the shores of the New World. 

The Papist, James II., had fled to Catholic France, where he 
was received with open arms. War was the consequence, 
imbittered not only by the hereditary hatred between English- 
men and Frenchmen, but by the still more virulent antagonism 
which arose between Protestantism and Catholicism. France 
and England entered with equal alacrity upon the deadly strug- 
gle. 1 The patriotic pride, and the religious fanaticism, of the 
French in Canada, were aroused to drive the heretical English 
out of Maine. It was not difficult for them to rally the majority 
of the Indians around their standards. French privateers were 
promptly upon the coast, capturing the colonial vessels. It is 
said, we know not upon what authority, that the French mis- 
sionaries exerted all their powerful influence to rouse the Indi- 
ans to drive the English out of Maine. It is estimated that the 
French in New France then numbered over eleven thousand. 

The General Court, which had received the cordial sanction 
of the new king, William of Orange, promptly prepared an 
expedition to regain Nova Scotia, and capture Quebec. Seven 
vessels, manned by seven hundred men, sailed from Boston in the 
spring of 1690. Sir William Phips took the command. 

This remarkable man was a native of Maine, being one of the 
youngest of his mother's family of twenty-six children, twenty- 

1 "War was declared by England against France on the 7th of Mar, 1689; but 
tidings of tbe proclamation did not reach Boston until Dec. 7." — Universal History, 
vol. xli. p. 47. 



■ 



TEE EISTORY OF MAINE. 



221 



one of whom were sons. He was born upon the Sheepscot, in 
the town of Woolwich, on the 2d of February, 1650. His father 
died when he was young ; and he remained with his mother, in 
the homestead, until he was eighteen years of age. 

Favored with but a limited education, he learned the trade 
of a ship-carpenter. The ravages of the Indians drove him 
from home ; and he entered upon the roving life of a sailor. Ac- 
cidentally he heard that a Spanish ship, richly laden with bars 
of silver from the mines, had been wrecked upon one of the 
Bahamas. He succeeded in communicating this intelligence to 
the Duke of Albemarle. An expedition was fitted out to re- 
cover the treasure. After sundry disappointments, extraordinary 
success crowned the endeavor. Thirty-four tons of silver, be- 
sides gold, pearls, and jewels, were raised from a depth of nearly 
fifty feet. The estimated value was one million, three hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars. 

The share of William Phips amounted to seventy thousand 
dollars. The Duke of Albemarle presented Mrs. Phips a golden 
cup worth four thousand dollars. The King of England con- 
ferred upon the successful adventurer the honor of knighthood, 
and appointed him high sheriff of New England. James II. 
was then king of England ; and Sir Edmund Andros was in 
power. 1 

The fleet sailed from Boston on the 29th of April. It con- 
sisted of a frigate of forty guns, two sloops-of-war (one carry- 
ing sixteen, and the other eight guns), and four ketches, which 
were small vessels, schooner rigged, of about two hundred tons' 
burden. 2 The squadron proceeded first to Port Royal. The 
garrison there was in no condition to resist so powerful a force, 
and surrendered at discretion. 3 

Sir William took, as prisoners-of-war, the military governor, 

1 Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii. pp. 151-208. Collection of State Papers. By- 
Thomas Hutchinson, p. 353. 

2 Universal History, vol. xl. p. 62. 

8 "Du Mont, having received a commission as lieutenant-general of France, 
fitted out an expedition, with which he sailed along the coast of Maine, formed a 
temporary settlement at the mouth of the River St. Croix, where his company 
spent one winter, and then established a colony on the other side of the Bay of 
Fundy, at a place which they named Port Royal, and now called Annapolis. 
This was in the year 1004." — History of Portland, by William Willis, p. 10. 



222 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



M. Maneval, and thirty-eight soldiers. He then ran back, 
south-westerly along the coast of Maine toward the Penobscot, 
capturing all the French posts on the way, and taking possession 
of the islands. He appointed a governor over the province so 
easily conquered, and returned to Boston with his prisoners, and 
with sufficient plunder, as he judged, to defray all the expenses 
of the expedition. 1 

The French population of the subjugated province was sup- 
posed to be between two and three thousand souls. 2 They hated 
the English ; and the tribes under their influence sympathized 
with them in these hostile feelings. 

Flushed with victory, New England and New York combined 
to root out all the French colonies in Nova Scotia and Canada. 
Four thousand men were easily enlisted to enter upon the pop- 
ular enterprise. Sir William Phips, promoted to the rank of 
commodore, commanded the fleet, containing two thousand 
men. Quebec was its point of destination. The other half 
of the army, under Major-Gen. John Winthrop of Connecticut, 
marched across the country to attack Montreal. 

The fleet sailed on the 19th of August, 1690. It was not until 
the 5th of October, that the vessels cast anchor before Quebec. 
Count Frontenac, a haughty but able French nobleman, was 
governor. To a summons to surrender, he returned the singular 
reply, — 

" You and your countrymen are heretics and traitors. New England and 
Canada would be one, had not the friendship been destroyed by your revolu- 
tion." 8 

In this he referred to the revolution in England, which had 
driven the Papist, James II., into France, and had placed the 
Protestant, William of Orange, on the throne, and had thus 
inaugurated the war. A landing* was effected about four miles 
below the town. Both the naval and the land forces commenced 
a furious cannonade. But the French fought with courage and 

1 Mather's Magnalia, p. 522. 

2 Hutchinson's Historical Collections, vol. ii. p. 13. Holmes, in his American 
Annals, vol. i. p. 474, estimates the number at between three and four thousand. 

8 Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, vol. i p. 35G. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



223 



skill, and were greatly aided in their attack upon the land-force 
by their Indian allies. 

The troops were defeated, and were driven precipitately on 
board the ships. Quebec was found far better armed with 
heavy guns than had been supposed. The fleet suffered more 
than the French works from the cannonade. A general feeling 
of depression spread through the English troops. The enter- 
prise was abandoned ; and the vessels spread their sails to return. 
To add to their disasters, the elements seemed to combine 
against them. A violent tempest struck the fleet. Several 
vessels, as they were emerging from the mouth of the St. Law- 
rence, were sunk, and others blown out to sea. 

It was not until the 19th of November, that the residue of the 
shattered squadron reached Boston. Between two and three 
hundred men were lost by the casualties of war during this 
unfortunate expedition. 1 

Gen. Winthrop was equally unsuccessful. Led by forty Mo- 
hawk warriors, he struggled through the forest to the shores of 
Lake Champlain. Here, finding himself unable to transport 
his army across the lake, he- also abandoned the enterprise, and, 
with his humiliated army, returned, having accomplished noth- 
ing. 2 

In the mean time, the war with the Indians and French com- 
bined was raging throughout Maine ; and the land was filled 
with lamentation and mourning. 

1 According to Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii. p. 522, the fleet consisted of thirty- 
two sail. 

2 Trumbull's History of Connecticut, vol. ii. p. 383. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



CAMPAIGNS IN THE WILDERNESS. 

Character of Indian Warfare — Expedition of Capt. Church — Battle at Fal- 
mouth — The Sack of Berwick — The Massacre at Falmouth — Church at 
Pejepscot — Incidents of the Campaign — Indian Gratitude — The Truce — 
Deplorable Condition of Maine — The Disaster at York — Heroic Defence of 
Wells — Church's Third Expedition — New Efforts for Peace. 

IT will be remembered, that, in the year 1G78, Massachusetts 
had purchased of Mr. Gorges the Province of Maine, for 
the sum of twelve hundred and fifty pounds sterling. King 
James II. protested against this sale. It was, however, ratified, 
in the year 1691, by King William, in a charter which included 
not only what had been called the Province of Maine, but also 
the more easterly provinces of Sagadahoc and Nova Scotia. 1 

We must now retrace the time for a few months. There 
were many intelligent men among the Indians ; and they saga- 
ciously succeeded in forming a very remarkable union of the 
several tribes. 

The Indians always proved to be a prowling, skulking foe, 
never venturing to meet their adversaries in the open field. 
They hid behind fences, stumps, rocks, and, waylaying the Eng- 
lish, would shoot them down, strip off their scalps, and dis- 
appear in the forest. They would watch all night to shoot a 
settler as he came from his cabin in the dawn of the morning. 
Four young men went out together ; and the invisible Indians 
shot them all down at a single fire. A well-armed party of 
twenty-four went out to bury them. The Indians rose from 
ambush; and after a eevere conflict, having shot down six, the 

2 Willis's History of Portland, p. 222 

224 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 225 

savages fled into the woods. The activity of these people was 
so great, and their depredations so incessant and terrible, that 
nearly all the settlements, and even garrisons, east of Falmouth, 
were abandoned; and many of the inhabitants sought refuge in 
the stronger fortresses upon the Piscataqua. 

For the protection of the despairing people of Maine, Massa- 
chusetts sent to their aid an army of six hundred men. The 
troops were rendezvoused at Berwick, then called Newichawan- 
nock. There were ninety Natick Indians in the party. Major 
Benjamin Church, a man who subsequently gained great renown 
in those wars, joined, a detachment of these troops at Falmouth, 
with two hundred and fifty volunteers, a part of whom were 
friendly Indians. 

The report came, that seven hundred Indians, 1 with many 
Frenchmen associated with them, were on the march to attack 
Falmouth. Major Church, who was well acquainted with the 
Indian mode of fighting, landed his troops secretly, in the night, 
and concealed them in a thick growth of bushes, about half a 
mile from the town. A severe battle soon took place, after the 
Indian fashion, in which both parties displayed great skill and 
bravery. The Indians finally retreated, after having killed or 
wounded twenty-one of their assailants, 2 six of whom were In- 
dians in alliance with the English. The loss sustained by the 
Indians is not known. Major Church wrote to the governor of 
Massachusetts, under date of Sept. 27, 1689, 3 — 

" We know not yet what damage we did to the enemy in our last engage- 
ment. But several things that they left behind them on their flight, we 
found yesterday; which were gun-cases and stockings, and other things of 

1 " Such was the statement of Mrs. Lee, a daughter of Major Waldron, who had 
just heen ransomed from the Indians. Sullivan also says seven hundred. Mr. 
Willis thinks this number overestimated. Capt. Davis of Falmouth states the 
number to have been between three and four hundred." — History of Portland, by 
William Willis, p. 277. 

2 Church's Expedition, pp. 89, 106. 

3 "There is no account of this action, excepting what Church gives in his His- 
tory. He has described the place where it happened, in such a manner, that it is 
very difficult now to fix upon it with any degree of certainty. It is clear that the 
Indians must either have gone up Fore Eiver, and landed above the town, or have 
gone up Back Cove, and landed at the head of jt. The latter may be believed the 
most probable." —Sullivan's History of Maine, p. 202. 

15 



226 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



some value, together with other signs, that make us think that we did them 
considerable damage." 1 

From this point, Major Church advanced, in his vessels, to the 
Kennebec, which he ascended for some distance. He visited 
several garrisons, and, returning, left sixty soldiers at Fort 
Loyal, and then sailed for Boston. Capt. Hall was left in com- 
mand of the garrison. The terror-stricken people, apprehen- 
sive that the savages would return with increased numbers, and 
inflict terrible vengeance, entreated Major Church to take them 
away in his transports. But he persuaded them to remain, with 
the assurance that efficient aid should be promptly sent them 
from Boston. Upon his arrival there, he labored hard, but in 
vain, to redeem his pledge. 

Berwick had revived, and contained about twenty-seven 
houses. Early in the spring of 1690, a party of French and 
Indians, having laid waste the settlement at Salmon Falls, made 
an attack upon Berwick. The assailants consisted of fifty-two 
men, twenty-five being Indians, and the remainder Frenchmen. 2 
As usual, the attack was commenced by surprise, in the earliest 
dawn of the morning. The Indians were led by a renowned 
chief, called Hopehood. 3 The French commander was a Cana- 
dian officer of distinction, by the name of Artel, or Hartel as it 
is sometimes spelled. 

The English fought with the energies of despair. When 
almost every man (thirty-four in number) had been shot down, 
the women and children were compelled to surrender. The 
victors wantonly shot the cattle, laid all the buildings in ashes, 
and with fifty-four captives, and all the plunder they could 
carry, retreated. 

A force of a hundred and fifty men, hastily collected, at- 

1 Willis's History of Portland, p. 280, quoting from Hutchinson Papers. 

2 Mather writes, "Being half one, and half t'other; half Indianized French, 
and half Frenchified Indians." 

3 "Hopehood was a celebrated chief of the tribe of the Kennebeks, generally- 
known as the Nerigwoks (Norridgewock). His Indian name seems to have been 
Wohawa." —Drake's Book of the Indians, book hi. p. 109. 

"Many of the natives he I both an Indian and an English name. Hopehood was 
a son of the celebrated Negusset sagamore, called Bobinhood, but whose Indian 
name was Bamegin." — Drake, book hi p. 97. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



227 



tracted by the smoke of the burning village, pursued the united 
band of civilized and uncivilized savages. The plunderers, 
encumbered with booty and prisoners, were overtaken as they 
were attempting to cross a small stream called Wooster River. 
A fierce battle ensued, which lasted till the darkness of night 
set in. Several were slain on each side. But it would appear 
that during the night the marauders escaped. 1 

In May the French and Indians organized another expedition 
against Falmouth. Between four and five hundred men com- 
menced the attack of the 16th of May, 1690. Prowling bands 
had been for some time seen around, which led to the suspicion 
that the foe was preparing to strike them by surprise. 

Thirty young men volunteered to march out on a reconnois- 
sance. Lieut. Thaddeus Clark led them, and led them into an 
ambush. They climbed Munjoy's Hill, when suddenly a volley 
of bullets was discharged upon them by invisible assailants, 
concealed behind a fence. That one discharge cut down nearly 
half their number, including their commander. The remainder 
fled in consternation to their fortifications, pursued by the 
French and Indians, filling the air with yells. 

There were, in addition to Fort Loyal, four garrison-houses 
in the town. All the people who were unable to effect a retreat 
to one of these fortresses were either killed or captured. The 
assailants, after plundering the houses, set them on fire. They 
then combined all their energies to storm the forts. For four 
days and four nights, they kept up almost a constant fire, dis- 
playing much military skill in their approaches. -We give the 

1 In this case, as usual, there is a slight discrepancy in the details, as given by 
the early annalists. Drake writes, — 

"Hopehood had joined twenty-two Frenchmen, under Hertel, with twenty-five; 
of his warriors. They attacked the place, as soon as it was day, in three places. 
The people defended themselves as well as they we're able, in their consternation, 
until about thirty of their best men were slain, when they gave themselves up to 
the mercy of the besiegers. Sixty-four men were carried away captive, and much 
plunder. They burned all the houses, and the barns with the cattle in them. The • 
number of buildings thus destroyed is unknown, but was perhaps thirty, and 
perhaps two hundred head of cattle." — Drake, book iii. p. 109. 

Charlevoix, in his History of New France, says that two thousand cattle were 
burnt in the barns. 

I give the narrative in the text as recorded by Belknap, vol. i. p. 207, and the 
very accurate Williamson, vol. i. p. 619. 



228 



THE II I STORY OF MAINE. 



result, not in the words, but in accordance with the facts con- 
tained in the official report of Capt. Davis ; which document is 
on file in the Massachusetts office of State. 

The conflict commenced with the dawn of the 16th. It raged 
until the afternoon of the 20th. Nearly all the inmates of the 
garrison were then slain. Either the French were dressed as 
Indians, or had so concealed themselves, that the English could 
not tell whether there were any of that nation in the savage 
band assailing them. They, therefore, sent a flag of truce, that 
they might ascertain whether they could, by a surrender, hope 
to save the lives of the survivors. Thus they learned that there 
were many Frenchmen in the party; and they were promised, 
that, as a condition of surrender, the lives of all should be 
spared, and that they should be conducted, under guard, to the 
next English town, where they should be set at liberty. The 
French commander took a solemn oath, by the ever living God, 
that the articles of the capitulation should be sacredly per- 
formed. 1 

The gates were thrown open, and the savages rushed in. 
Awful was the scene which ensued. Hons. Burneffe had prob- 
ably lost all control over his ferocious allies. No respect what- 
ever was paid to the terms of the surrender. There were 
seventy living men within the garrison, many of whom were 
wounded, and a large number of women and children. Nearly 
all were slaughtered, and many with inhuman tortures. 

The French rescued Capt. Davis, and succeeded in saving 
the lives of, some say fifty, others say a hundred prisoners. It 
seems to have been a custom among the Indians to put to death 
as many of their captives as they themselves had lost in the 
conflict. 2 The whole village was laid in ashes. The dead were 

1 « The French and Indians were nnder the command of M. Burneffe, a Cana- 
dian officer. His lieutenant was M. Corte de March. Most of the French troops 
were from Quebec, under Capt. M. de Portneuf. The Indians were led by Baron 
Castine and his son-in-law. Madockawando. They came to Casco Bay in a large 
fleet of canoes. Charlevoix gives the command of the expedition to Portneuf, 
and dates the surrender on the 27th. In both of these statements he is doubtless 
incorrect." — See Letter of Capt. Davis in Collections of 3Iassachusetts Historical So- 
ciety, vol. i. 3 ser., p. 101. 

2 "When the prisoners marched out of the fort, fifty in all, the savages raised 
a shout, fell upon them with hatchet and sword, and killed all except four; and 
these were wounded." — Eistoire et Disc. Gen de la Nouvelle France, par Pere de 
Charlevoix, vol. iii. p. 78. 



230 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



left unburied. The number slain in this awful massacre is not 
known. The French, after participating in this demoniac deed, 
commenced their march back to Canada. 

" I must say," writes Capt. Davis, " they were kind to me in 
my travels through the country. Our provisions were very 
short, — Indian corn and acorns. Hunger made it very good, 
and God gave it strength to nourish." 

Davis was a prisoner-of-war in Quebec for four months, 
when Sir William Phips effected his exchange for a Frenchman. 
The capture of Falmouth was a terrible disaster. The victori- 
ous Indians scattered in all directions, perpetrating the most 
horrible deeds of cruelty and crime. Many of them were 
demons in character, and recoiled from no horror. The cruel- 
ties they often committed are too revolting to be described. 
Even the recital brings torture to the soul. 

From all the feebler garrisons the people fled in dismay, west- 
ward, and took refuge in Storer's strong garrisons at Wells. 1 
The government sent them re-enforcements, with directions to 
make a stand there, and resist all attacks. 

The valiant Major Church was despatched with another expe- 
dition, of three hundred men, to visit Casco and Pejepscot, to 
chastise the Indians, and regain captives, if possible. This was 
early in September, 1690. He landed at Maquoit, and marched 
at night across the country to Pejepscot 2 Fort, which, it will be 
remembered, was located west of the Androscoggin, at the 
Pejepscot Falls. The Indians held possession of the fort. The 
accompanying illustration shows the appearance of these cele- 
brated falls, after the lapse of nearly two centuries. 

A watchful eye discerned the coming, and spread the alarm. 
The savages fled in all directions, leaving several English cap- 
tives behind. One Indian man was taken, with a few women 
and several children. The horrors perpetrated by the savages 
had created great exasperation against them. Church's men 

1 " No other town in the province was so well provided with houses of refuge 
as Wells. This was due to the prudent foresight of Storer and Wheelwright. 
There were here seven or eight garrisons, some of them huilt in the "best manner, 
against assaults from without, and for the protection and comfort of those with- 
jin." — History of Wells and Kennebunk, by Edward E. Bourne, LL D. p. 196. 

2 Williamson spells this both Pejepscot and Pegypscot, pp. 37, 724. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



231 



were about to put the man to death, when the female white 
captives, who had thus been rescued, earnestly pleaded for his 
life. They said that he had ever been kind to them, and had 
several times saved them and others from death. 

The wives of two of the distinguished sagamores, Kankama- 
gus 1 and Worumbee, were among the prisoners. As they 
promised that eighty English captives should be surrendered 
for their ransom, their lives were spared, and they were sent to 
the garrisons at Wells. The sister of Kankamagus was slain. 
Worumbee's two children were carried, with their mother, into 
captivity. Mr. Drake quotes the following statement from a 
manuscript letter written at that time by Major Church, and 
addressed to Gov. Hinckley of Plymouth : — 

" We left two old squaws that were not able to march; gave them victuals 
enough for one week, of their own corn, boiled, and a little of our provis- 
ions; and buried their dead, and left clothes enough to keep them warm, 
and left the wigwams for them to lie in; gave them orders to tell their friends 
how kind we were to them, bidding them to do the like to ours. Also, if 
they were for peace, to come to Goodman Small's at Berwick, within four- 
teen days, who would attend to discourse them." 1 

This capture upon the Androscoggin took place on Sunday, 
Sept. 14, 1690. The victors retired with five English captives, 
whom they had rescued, and nine Indians prisoners. 

Major Church and his victorious party, about forty in num- 
ber, ascended the Androscoggin seven miles, to another Indian 
fort. There he killed twenty-one Indians, took one a prisoner, 
and rescued seven English captives. The torch was applied, 
and the works laid in ashes. The single savage whose life was 
spared was a gigantic fellow, Agamcus, who was nicknamed 

1 " Kankamagus, commonly called Hoy kins, Hawkins, or Hakins, was a Pen- 
nacook sachem. He was faithful to the English as long as he could depend upon 
them for protection. When the terrible Mohawks were sent to destroy the east- 
ern Indians, he fled westerly to the Androscoggin. Here he and another sachem, 
called Worumbee, lived with then families. He could speak and write English. 
His several letters to Gov. Canfield prove his fidelity. There can be no doubt that 
he would have been true to the English, had they been true to him." — Drake's 
Book of the Indians, book iii. p. 106. 

2 Drake's Book of the Indians, book iii. p. 108. 



232 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Great Tom. 1 On the march he escaped, and carried to the 
Indians such reports of the strength and prowess of Major 
Church's troops, that they retired far back into the interior 
wilderness. 2 

Church sailed along the coast, touching at various points, and 
inflicting all the injury he could upon the Indians. It was, 
however, not often that they gave him an opportunity to strike 
a blow. On the 21st of September, he landed three companies 
on Purpooduck. 3 Here a strong band of Indians fiercely as- 
sailed him. He repelled them with the loss of five of his own 
men, after having slain eight or ten Indians, and taken thirteen 
canoes. Major Church afterwards learned, from a returned 
captive, that the savages put just as many English prisoners to 
a cruel death as they had lost in the conflict. 

In October, ten sagamores went to Wells, where the captive 
women and children were restored to them. They expressed 
unbounded gratitude in view of the kindness with which they 
had been treated, and declared their earnest desire for peace. 
" We are read}V they said, " at any time and place you may 
appoint, to meet } r our head men, and enter into a treaty." 

On the 29th of November, a truce between the Massachu- 
setts commissioners and six sagamores was signed. It would 
appear that there was much difficulty in agreeing upon the 
terms on which hostilities should cease. The Indians had even 
abandoned the council, and retired to their canoes, before terms 
were offered them which they were willing to accept. The 
truce was to continue through the winter, until the 1st of Maj r , 
when they promised to visit Storer's garrison, in Wells, to bring 

1 "We hope that the following statement made by Mr. Williamson is a mistake. 
" The wives of the two sagamores and their children were saved. But it is pain- 
ful to relate, and no wise creditable to the usual humanity of Major Church, that 
the rest of the females, except two or three old squaws, also the unoffending chil- 
dren, were put to the tomahawk or sword." — Vol. i. p. 625. 

2 " Many Indians bore the name of Tom. Indian Hill in Newbury was owned 
by Great Tom. He is supposed to have been the last Indian proprietor of lands 
in that town. In written instruments he styles himself, — ' I Great Tom, In- 
dian.' "—Drake, book hi. p. 114. 

3 The first inhabitants of Cape Elizabeth, which is separated from the penin- 
sula by Fore River, seated themselves opposite to the harbor, upon Purpooduck 
Point; from which the plantation, commencing forty-four years prior to King 
Philip's war, derived its name." — Williamson, vol. ii. p. 377. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



233 



in all the English captives they held, and to establish a perma- 
nent peace. 

The condition of Maine at this time was deplorable in the 
extreme. All the settlements were devastated, but four. Those 
were Wells, York, Kittery, and the Isle of Shoals. At the 
appointed time, Pres. Danforth, with quite an imposing reti- 
nue on horseback, repaired to the strong garrison. But, for 
some unexplained reason, the sagamores did not appear. 1 Some 
attributed it to the influence of the French. It is more proba- 
ble that they feared treachery. During the winter, the English 
had been preparing to strike heavy blows, should the war be 
renewed. The wary Indians, through their scouts, kept them- 
selves informed of every movement. 

Capt. Converse, who had command of the troop of horse, 
sent out a detachment, who brought in a few of the neighbor- 
ing chiefs. To the inquiry why the sagamores did not come in, 
according to the agreement, to ratify the treaty, they returned 
the unsatisfactory reply, — 

"We did not remember the. time. But we now bring in and deliver 
up two captives. "We promise certainly to surrender the rest within ten 
days." 2 

The chiefs were permitted to return to their homes. Ten 
days passed away ; but no Indians appeared. Apprehensive 
that an attack was meditated, Pres. Danforth returned to York, 
and sent a re-enforcement of thirt}^-five soldiers to strengthen 
the garrison at Wells. They arrived on the 9th of June, 1692. 
It was none too soon. 

In one half-hour after their arrival, a band of two hundred 
savages made a fierce but unsuccessful attack upon the garrison. 
The only account we have of this battle is the following : — 

" We have intelligence that the eastward Indians and some French have 
made an assault upon the garrisons in and near the town of Wells, and have 

1 "The reason of this we cannot explain, unless the warlike appearance of the 
English deterred thern. After waiting a while, Capt. Converse surprised some of 
them, and brought them in by force. Having reason to believe the Indians pro- 
voked by this time, he immediately added thirty-five men to their (his) force." 
— Drake, book iii. p. 102. 

2 Wilhamson, vol L p. 627. 



234 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



killed about six persons thereabout. They drove the cattle together, and 
killed them before their faces." 1 

The savages, thus baffled, retired, threatening soon to come 
again. At Cape Neddock, in York, they burned several houses, 
and attacked a vessel, killing most of the crew. Indian bands 
continued to range the country, shooting down all they could 
find, and inflicting all the damage in their power. 

Another dreary summer passed away, and another cheerless 
winter came. The Indians seldom ventured to brave the cold 
and the storms of a Maine winter in their campaigns : conse- 
quently the inhabitants of York remitted their vigilance at that 
time. The Indians, with the military skill they were accus- 
tomed to display, selected this season for their attack. 

The little village was scattered along the eastern bank of the 
Agamenticus River. There were several strong block-houses, 
in which the inhabitants could take refuge in case of an alarm. 
The accompanying illustration faithfully represents the struc- 
ture of one of those houses. 




GARBISON-HOUSE AT YORK, BUILT ABOUT 1645. 



1 Letter of Gov. Stoughton of New York, dated June 24, 1691. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



235 



Early on a dark, cold morning of February, 1692, a band of 
between two and three hundred French and Indians, having 
traversed the wilderness from Canada on snow-shoes, made a 
furious attack upon different portions of the hamlet. The peo- 
ple were as much taken by surprise as if an army had descended 
from the clouds. 

A scene of terror, carnage, and woe, ensued, which can 
neither be described nor imagined. In one half-hour seventy- 
five of the English were slain, and more than a hundred taken 
prisoners, many of them wounded and bleeding. All the un- 
fortified houses were in flames. Those within the walls of 
the garrison fought with the utmost intrepidity. The assail- 
ants, despairing of being able to break through their strong 
walls, and fearing that re-enforcements might come to the aid 
of the English, gathered up their plunder, huddled the dis- 
tracted, woe-stricken prisoners together, and commenced a 
retreat. 

Awful were the sufferings of these captives, — wounded men, 
feeble women leaving the gory bodies of their husbands behind 
them, and little children now fatherless. The French and the 
savages co-operated in these demoniac deeds. The victors com- 
menced their march over the bleak, snow-drifted fields, towards 
Sagadahoc. 

With the exception of the garrison-houses, the whole village 
was destroyed. One-half of all the inhabitants were either 
killed, or carried into captivity. Rev. Shubael Dummer was the 
excellent pastor of the little church there. He was about sixty 
years of age, a graduate of Harvard College, a man of devoted 
piety, and greatly beloved. He was found dead upon the snow. 
His wife, a lady from one of the first families, and distinguished 
for her social accomplishments, and her mental and moral cul- 
ture, was seized, and dragged away with the crowd of captives. 
But the massacre of her husband, the scenes of horror which 
she had witnessed, and the frightful prospect opening before 
her, soon caused her to sink away in that blessed sleep which 
has no earthly waking. But few of those thus carried into 
captivity, amidst the storms of an almost arctic winter, ever 
saw friends or home again. 



236 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



One pleasing event which occurred is worthy of especial 
record. The Indians selected from their prisoners several aged 
women and several children, just the number, and about the ages, 
of those whom Major Church had treated kindly in the capture 
of the Pejepscot Fort. These were safely returned, with ex- 
pressions of gratitude, to one of the English garrison-houses. 1 
A party from Portsmouth, N.H., set out in pursuit of the 
Indians ; but they could not be overtaken. 

In Wells, there were but fifteen men in garrison. They were 
commanded by Capt. Converse. Two sloops and a shallop, 
manned by fourteen sailors, were sent to them with supplies. 
Before the dawn of the morning of June 10, 1692, an army 
of five hundred French and Indians, under Mons. Burneffe, 
attacked the place. The Indians were led by four of their most 
distinguished sagamores. As usual, the assault was commenced 
with hideous yells. The military science of the French was 
combined with the ferocity of the savages. The strength of 
the assailants was such, that they had not the slightest doubt of 
success. Mather writes, — 

' 1 They fell to dividing persons and plunder. Such an English captain 
should be slave to such an one. Such a gentleman should serve such an 
one, and his wife be a maid of honor to such or such a squaw. Mr. Wheel- 
wright, instead of being a worthy counsellor, as he now is, was to be the ser- 
vant of such a Xetop." 

John Wheelwright was widely known. He was the most 
prominent man in the town. His capture would have been 
deemed an inestimable acquisition. The assailing army ap- 
proached the feeble garrison, according to European, not Indian 
tactics. It appears that Capt. Converse had in the garrison 
about thirty armed men. Probably half of these were inhabit- 
ants of the place. They had fled to that retreat in consequence 
of suspicions that Indians were skulking around. We know 

1 Collections Maine Historical Society, vol. i p. 104. 

It is extremely difficult to ascertain with accuracy the course which Major 
Church pursued at Pejepscot. The accounts are very contradictory. Mr. Drake, 
in his valuable Book of the Indians, represents him as acting with shocking inhu- 
manity, ''knocking women and children in the head." But this fact seems to 
imply that he was guilty of no such atrocities. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



237 



not how many women and children had taken refuge there. 
Converse ordered his men to keep carefully concealed, and not 
to fire a gun until they were sure of their aim. One of the 
garrison, terror-stricken in view of the formidable array ap- 
proaching, tremblingly said, " We cannot resist. We must 
surrender." 

" Repeat that word," Capt. Converse replied sternly, " and 
you are a dead man." The assailants opened fire. The garri- 
son returned it with several small cannon as well as musketry. 
The women assisted in bringing powder, and in handling the 
guns. The bullets, thrown with cool and accurate aim, created 
great havoc in the ranks of the enemy. This was not the 
Indian mode of fighting. Instead of admiring what was called 
the gallantry of the French in thus exposing their lives, they 
regarded them as fools in thus, as it were, courting death. Cot- 
ton Mather, in his description of the battle, writes, " They kept 
calling to surrender ; which ours answered with a laughter and 
with a mortiferous bullet at the end of it." 

There is probably more poetry than prose in that statement. 
We apprehend that there Was little time for laughter on that 
dreadful day, when the feeble little garrison was struggling 
against a foe outnumbering it nearly twenty to one. They 
believed that it was the determination of the Indians, incited 
by the French, to destroy every vestige of the English settle- 
ments, and to put to death, or drive from the land, all the Eng- 
lish inhabitants. 

Capt. Converse had but fifteen men in what was called the 
Storer's garrison. 1 The battle of the first day was mainly 
directed against the garrison. But brave hearts behind strong 
defences beat off the foe. The sloops were anchored in a nar- 
row creek, which was bordered with high banks. The vessels 
were so near the shore, that the Indians, from their hiding- 

1 " "We know not whether the little hand on hoard the vessels, or the nohle men 
and women within the garrison, are entitled to the higher meed. History speaks 
of fifteen soldiers within the latter; but we think there may have heen thirty. 
Whether the latter or the former is the time number, the victory over the assail- 
ants was one that entitles not only these soldiers, hut all who were within the 
walls of the fort, to the grateful remembrance of those who have entered into 
their labors." — Bourne's History of Wells and KennebunJc, p. 216. 



238 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



places, could easily throw stones on board. They built a breast- 
work of planks, over which they cautiously took aim. With 
fire-arrows they succeeded several times in setting the vessels 
on fire. But the sailors extinguished the flames with mops on 
the end of long poles. 

At length the Indians built a breastwork on a cart. This 
they pushed within fifty feet of one of the vessels. Not a 
shot could strike them. As they were carefully pressing it 
forward, one of the wheels entered a rut. It could not be 
extricated without exposure. A gallant Frenchman sprung to 
the wheel, and was instantly shot down. Another Frenchman 
took his place : he, also, fell, pierced by a bullet. The Indians 
did not regard this as sensible warfare, but fled as fast as possi- 
ble. 

The next morning was Sunday. The enemy combined all 
their energies in a renewed attack upon the garrisons ; but 
their bullets produced no effect upon the strong block-houses. 
Not a man was wounded. Many of the Indian chiefs could 
speak English. They often called upon Capt. Converse to sur- 
render. To these summons he returned defiant answers. One 
of the chiefs shouted, " Since you feel so stout, Converse, why 
do you not come out into the field and fight like a man, and not 
stay in a garrison, like a squaw ? " 

" What a pack of fools you are ! " Converse replied. " Do you 
think that I am willing, with but thirty men, to fight your five 
hundred ? But select thirty of your warriors, and, with them 
only, come upon the plain, and I am ready for you." 

" No, no ! " the chief replied in broken English. " We think 
English fashion all one fool, — you kill me, me kill you. Not 
so. We lie somewhere, and shoot 'em Englishmen when he no 
see. That's the best soldier." 

Another Indian exclaimed, " We will cut you into pieces as 
small as tobacco, before to-morrow morning." 

" Come on, then," the brave captain retorted : " we are all 
ready for work." 

Finding their efforts unavailing, the combined foe of French 
and savages again turned their attention to the two small sloops 
which were anchored close together. There were but seven or 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



239 



eight sailors on board. 1 An army of five hundred men attacked 
them. Small, comparatively, as were the contending forces, it 
is indeed true that a more heroic defence history has seldom 
recorded. The savages constructed a raft about twenty feet 
square, upon which they piled all kinds of combustibles, — dried 
branches, birch-bark, and evergreen boughs. Applying the 
torch, they converted it into an island of fire, the forked tongues 
of flame rising twenty or thirty feet high. 

The destruction of the sloops now seemed sure. Five hun- 
dred yells of triumph pierced the air, as the fire-raft swung 
from its moorings, and floated down on the current towards the 
apparently doomed vessels. No skill, no courage, could avail 
against such a foe. But they were saved by a more than human 
power. The wind changed ; and the floating volcano was driven 
to the opposite shore, where it was soon converted to ashes. 

One of the French commanders, Labocree, was shot through 
the head. Many others of the French and Indians were either 
killed or wounded. Thus baffled, the foe retreated, after inflict- 
ing all the damage in their power, in burning the dwellings, and 
shooting the cattle. In the dusk of the evening they with- 
drew ; and silence and solitude reigned where the hideous clangor 
of battle had so long resounded. 2 But one man of the English 
was killed. He was shot on board one of the vessels. 

One unhappy Englishman, John Diamond, was taken captive. 
The savages, in revenge for their losses, put him to death with 
the most horrible tortures which their ingenuity could contrive. 
Capt. Converse, 3 for his heroic defence, was promoted to the 

1 " Our sloops were sorely incommoded by a turn of the creek, where the ene- 
my could he so near as to throw mud aboard with their hands. Other accounts 
make their distance from them sixty yards." — Mather's Magnolia, vol. ii, p. 532. 

2 Drake's Book of the Indians, book hi. p. 103. See also Mather's Magnalia, 
vol. ii. p. 532; and Bourne's History of Wells and Kennebunk, p. 215. 

8 "The courage of the brave and intrepid Converse kept that of all his com- 
rades from waning. He knew how much depended on his own resolution and 
firmness : his noble manliness amidst the storm was the inspiration of all about 
him. 

"History does not record a struggle more worthy of perpetual remembrance. 
The names of those noble men, Gooch and Storer, should never be forgotten by 
the townsmen of Wells. We know not who else was on board these vessels. 
But, known or unknown, the whole crew were more worthy of monumental re- 
membrance than the thousands of more modern times whose memory is sanctified 
in the hearts of their countrymen." — Bourne's History of Wells and Kennebunk u 
p.218. 



240 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



important position of commander-in-chief of all the forces in 
Maine. For seven years this dreadful war desolated the State. 
Hundreds of terrible tragedies, of burning, scalping, torturing, 
have never been recorded. It is heart-rending to contemplate 
the woes into which so many families were plunged. No theol- 
ogy or philosophy can fully explain why God should allow the 
depravity of man to inflict such misery upon his brother. 

In the spring of 1692 a new administration commenced ; and 
Sir William Phips was appointed, by the sovereign of England, 
governor of Massachusetts. A legislature was convened at 
Boston on the 8th of June. Eight representatives were re- 
turned from Maine. War always spreads a demoralizing influ- 
ence throughout the whole community. Pirates and freeboot- 
ers ravaged the unprotected shores of the Province. It was the 
great object of the French, in the war in which France was 
involved with England, to annex the territory between the Sag- 
adahoc and Nova Scotia to their domains. 

In August, Gov. Phips, with a force of four hundred and 
fifty men, repaired to a spot about three miles above Pemaquid 
Point, on the east side of the river, where he built quite a mas- 
sive fort of quadrangular form, seven hundred and forty-seven 
feet in measurement. While the fort was in process of con- 
struction, Major Church was despatched farther east, with a 
strong force, to search out the enemy. The fort, which was 
named William Henry, was built of stone, at an expense of 
about a hundred thousand dollars. It was garrisoned by sixty 
men, and mounted eighteen cannon, six of which were eighteen- 
pounders. This armament showed that they were preparing to 
repel not savages merely, but the well-equipped armies of 
France. 

The expense of building and maintaining such a garrison was 
great for those times, and excited much discontent. But the 
Indians, who, unseen, watched all the movements of their enemy, 
could not be caught sight of. They found scattered through 
the wilderness the lonely cabins of two or three Frenchmen who 
had married Indian wives. It does not appear that these people 
were molested. Two or three vagrant Indians were, by chance, 
caught ; and a small amount of plunder was taken, of corn and 
beaver-skins. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



241 



Capt. Church, upon his return to Pemaquid, ascended the 
Kennebec as far as Teconnet (Winslow). But the fleet-footed 
savages very prudently avoided a battle. There were a few 
guns discharged in the vicinity of Swan Island ; but we can- 
not learn that anybody was hurt. At Teconnet the savages, as 
they saw the English troops approaching, set fire to their huts, 
and, like a covey of frightened partridges, vanished in the 
woods. 1 

The French organized a strong expedition to batter down the 
walls of Fort Heniy. About two hundred Canadians were sent 
to the Penobscot to be united with an equal number of Indians 
under Madockawando. Two French frigates — one of thirty- 
eight, and the other of thirty-four guns — were toco-operate. 
But, when this powerful land and naval force reached Pemaquid, 
an English man-of-war was riding at anchor, under the guns of 
the fort ; and the works were found too strong to be attacked. 
Thus the enterprise was abandoned. 

The starving Indians, without homes or harvests, and living 
in constant terror, were in great distress, and longed for peace. 
On the 12th of August, 1692, eighteen sagamores, representing 
nearly all the tribes from Passamaquoddy Bay to Saco, came to 
the fort at Pemaquid, and proposed terms of peace. Three 
commissioners met them. 

The sagamores renounced subjection to France, and pledged 
loyalty to the crown of England. They also agreed to release all 
their captives without ransom, to leave the English unmolested 
in all their claims to possessions and territory, and to traffic only 
at the trading-houses which should be regulated by law. All 
controversies were to be settled in English courts of justice. 
Five Indians, of high rank, were delivered to the English as 
hostages to secure the fulfilment of the treaty. 2 

Thus terminated the second Indian war. Still the Indians 
could not be cordial and happy with the hard conditions im- 
posed upon them. They were treated as a subjugate^ people. 
The Protestant English and the Catholic French were never 

1 Benjamin Church's Third Expedition, p. 131. 

2 Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii. p. 542, contains entire this treaty, so humiliating to 
the Indians. 

16 



242 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



friendly. Occasionally they would cease to quarrel ; but that 
was all. Religious differences imbittered national animosities. 
It is said that the French were continually endeavoring to rouse 
the Indians against the English, just as the English, a few years 
afterwards, were unwearied in their endeavors to rouse the 
savages against the Americans. 

It is said that the Catholic missionaries were ever striving to 
incite the savages to renew the war, incessantly preaching that 
44 it is no sin to break faith with heretics." That these self- 
denying ecclesiastics, toiling in the wigwams to elevate and 
instruct the Indians, were patriotic to their own country, when 
war was raging between France and England, cannot be 
doubted. But no man can read the record of their toils and 
sufferings without the conviction that they were truly good 
men, endeavoring, according to the best of their knowledge, to 
seek and to save the lost. 

Father Rasle, at Norridgewock, was denounced with peculiar 
severity. 44 His entire devotion," writes Williamson, 44 to the 
religious interests of the Indians, gave him an unlimited ascen- 
dency over them." 1 Frontenac, governor of Canada, appointed 
Mons. Villieu resident commander at Penobscot. He succeeded 
in enlisting two hundred and fifty Indians, under Madockawan- 
do, to accompany a French force in an attack upon Dover. 
Having destroyed the place, on the 18th of July, 1693, they re- 
turned across the Piscataqua to Maine. They killed four men 
near York, and took one lad captive. On the 25th of August, 
they killed eight men at Kittery, and, with the hard-heartedness 
of fiends, scalped a little girl. The child was found the next 
morning, bleeding, and apparently dying. The scalp was torn 
from her head, and her skull broken in by a blow from a toma- 
hawk ; still, strange to say, the child recovered. 

This was considered such a violation of the treaty as to jus- 
tify any retaliatory acts. There was a Frenchman by the name 

1 "After many attempts on the part of the English to induce the savages, hy 
bribes, and by promises the most flattering, to deliver the missionaries to them, 
they. offered a reward of a thousand pounds sterling to any one who would bring 
them the head of Rasle. Les Anglais mirent sa tete a pris, et promirent mille 
Mvre sterling a celui qui la leur porterait." — Histoire de la Nouvelle France, par 
Pere la Charlevoix, ii. p. 385. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



243 



of Robert or Robin Doney, who had adopted the Indian style 
of living, had become a chief among them, and had signed the 
treaty at Pemaquid. He expressed great regret for the rupture, 
and, with three companions, hastened to the new fort at Saco, 
to seek some adjustment of the difficult}". He and his compan- 
ions were seized and imprisoned. 1 

Soon after this, an Indian chief, by the name of Bomaseen, 
accompanied by two Indians of high rank, visited the garrison 
at Pemaquid. Bomaseen, or Bomazeen as Drake spells it, was 
a sachem of the Canibas tribe at Norridgewock. He was a 
friend of the English, and had communicated to them informa- 
tion respecting the designs of the French. It was known that 
he had saved the life of a woman, Rebecca Taylor, whom a 
savage was endeavoring to hang. 2 The three were immediately 
seized and incarcerated upon the suspicion that they were en- 
gaged in the rupture. 3 

It is humiliating to record that the government did not re- 
pudiate this bad faith. But there were many individuals who 
denounced it with great severity, declaring it to be as impolitic 
as it was unjust. It is reported by Williamson that the follow- 
ing conversation took place in Boston, between Bomaseen and 
an English clergyman. The chief, speaking of the religious 
instruction he had received from the priests, said, — 

" The Indians understand that the Virgin Mary was a French 
lady. Her son, Jesus Christ, the blessed, was murdered by the 
English. But he has risen from the dead, and gone to heaven. 
All who would gain his favor must avenge his blood." 

The English clergyman replied, taking a glass of wine, " Jesus 
Christ gives us good religion, like the wine in this glass. God's 

1 "Two years after this, in 1693, Robin Doney became reconciled to the Eng- 
lish, and signed a treaty with them at Pemaquid. But, within a year after, he 
became suspected, whether with or without reason, we know not, and coming to 
the fort at Saco, probably to settle the difficulty, was seized by the English. 
What his fate was is rather uncertain ; but the days of forgiveness and mercy 
were not yet." — Drake's Book of the Indians, book hi. p. 116. 

2 Drake, book iii. p. 111. 

8 "In 1694 he (Bomazeen) came to the fort at Pemaquid with a flag of truce, 
and was treacherously seized by those who commanded, and sent prisoner to Bos- 
ton, where he remained some months in a loathsome prison." — Drake, book iii. 
p. 111. 



244 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



book is the Bible, which holds this good wine. The French 
put poison in it, and then give it to the Indians. The English 
give it to them pure ; that is, they present them the Bible in 
their own language. French priests hear you confess your sins, 
and take beaver for it. The English never sell pardons. Par- 
dons are free, and come from God only." 

To this Bomaseen replied, " The Indians will spit up all 
French poison. The Englishman's God is the best God." 1 

The English retained the five hostages whom the chiefs had 
placed in their hands, and also closely imprisoned Bomaseen 
and his companions for the winter. Pestilence and famine were 
raging among these unhappy perishing natives. Starvation 
drove many to acts of plunder. 

In May, 1695, the English sent one of their hostage chiefs, 
Sheepscot John, to confer with the eastern Indians upon peace. 
He induced the sagamores to come in a fleet of fifty canoes, 
and meet him at Rutherford's Island, which was about three 
miles from fort William Henry. There was a friendly confer- 
ence. A truce was agreed upon ; eight English captives were 
released ; and the sagamores promised, at the end of thirty days, 
to meet commissioners at the garrison of William Henry, and 
conclude an abiding peace. 

The commissioners met at the appointed time and place. 
The sagamores were also prompt to their engagements. The 
English, Messrs. Phillips, Hawthorne, and Converse, refused to 
surrender their hostages, and yet demanded that the Indians 
should surrender their prisoners before they would even treat 
upon the subject of peace. We must respect these chiefs for 
resenting such an indignity. They replied, — 

" You have not brought us our friends, and yet you demand that we shall 
bring to you yours. This is not fair. We will talk no more. ' ' 

Abruptly they rose and departed. Thus the truce ended. 
Again the storms of war spread their desolations far and wide. 
It was a miserable warfare, on each side, shooting individuals 
whenever they could be found, burning cabins and wigwams, 
and capturing and scalping without mercy. 

1 Williamson, vol. i. p. 641. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



king William's war. — queen anne's war. 

Efforts of the French to reduce Fort William Henry — Cruelty of Capt. 
Chubb — His Fate — Camden Heights — Plunder on the Bay of Fundy — 
Major Frost — Fearful Tragedies — Consultations for Peace — Assacombuit 
— Impoverishment of the Province — Cruel Rumors and New Solicitudes — 
An Intolerant Act — Gov. Dudley — Speech of Simmo — King William's 
War — Policy of M. Rivieres — Shameful Conduct of Englishmen — Third 
Indian War — Siege of Winter Harbor — Arrival of Capt, Southack. 

THE renewal of the dreadful war must be attributed to the 
folly of the English. During the month of June, 1696, 
more than twenty persons were shot in the vicinity of the 
Piscataqua, and many houses were burned. The French 
resolved to reduce Fort William Henry. In their view, it con- 
trolled all of Western Acadia. 

Capt. Iberville was sent from Quebec, with two men-of-war, 
and two companies of soldiers. At Port Royal he was to take 
on board fifty Indians ; and at Castine he was to be joined by 
Baron Castine and a large additional number. Charlevoix says 
that there were two hundred savages in the expedition. 1 Cas- 
tine, with his retinue, accompanied the ships along the shore in 
canoes. 

The troops were landed without opposition, and the batteries 
raised. By the 14th of July, 1696, the fort was invested. 
Capt. Chubb, who was in command of the garrison, had fifteen 
guns and ninety-five men, with an ample supply of food and 
ammunition. Iberville, having placed his cannon and mortars 
in position simply to show what he could do, sent a summons 
for surrender. Chubb was particularly obnoxious to the Indians, 

1 Hist. Gen. de la Nouv. Fr., t. iii. p. 260. 

245 



246 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



who never forgot a wrong. Only five months before, on the 
16th of February, 1696, he lured two sachems, Edgeremet and 
Abenquid, into his fort, and put them both to death. " It was 
a horrid and cold-blooded act," writes Drake. " Few are the 
instances that we meet with in history, where Indian treachery, 
as it is termed, can go before this.'* 1 To the demand for a sur- 
render, Chubb returned the spirited reply, " I shall not give up 
the fort, though the sea be covered with French vessels, and the 
land with wild Indians." 

The bombardment was commenced with great energy. 
Bombshells, those most terrible thunderbolts of war, fell thick, 
with death-dealing explosions, within the enclosure. Baron 
Castine, who seems to have been a humane man, some say a 
religious man, convinced that the fort could not withstand the 
cannonade, and knowing, from the antagonism of the Indians to 1 
Chubb, that, should the fort be carried by storm, no earthly 
power could restrain the ferocity of the savages, succeeded in 
sending to him the following message : " If you delay to surren- 
der till the works are carried by assault, an indiscriminate 
massacre of the garrison is inevitable." 

Conscious guilt probably made Chubb cowardly. The white 
flag was raised ; and the terms of capitulation were soon agreed 
upon. All the garrison were to be conveyed to Boston, and, in 
exchange for them, just as many French and Indian prisoners- 
of-war were to be returned. The gates of the fort were thrown 
open ; and the conquerors entered, unfurling the French flag 
upon the captured battlements. 

But the Indians found one of their people in- irons. He had 
a deplorable story to tell of the cruel treatment he had received 
from Chubb. This so exasperated them, that, before Capt. Iber- 
ville could effectually interpose, several of the English were 

1 Drake, book iii. p. 112. "Cotton Mather records the crime in language quite 
unworthy of him. He writes, ' Know, then, reader, that, Capt. March petitioning 
to he dismissed from his command of the fort at Pemaquid, one Chubb succeeded 
him. This Chubb found an opportunity, in a pretty Chubbed manner, to kill the 
famous Edgeremet and Abenquid, a couple of principal sagamores, with one or 
two other Indians, on a Lord's Day. Some, that well enough liked the tiling 
which was now done, did not altogether like the manner of doing it; because 
there was a pretence of treaty between Chubb and the sagamores, whereof he 
took his advantage to lay violent hands upon them.'" — Mather's Magnolia, 
book vii. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



247 



massacred ; but, by the aid of the French soldiers, he rescued 
the rest, and removed them, with Chubb, to a small neighbor- 
ing island, where they were placed under a strong guard. 1 
Both French and Indians regarded this conquest as a great 
achievement. The fleet returned to the Penobscot; and, flushed 
with victory, new efforts were made by the French to enlist all 
the tribes as allies in the renewal of the war. 

The capture of Fort William Henry created much anxiety in 
Boston. It was feared that the fleet would sweep the whole 
coast, from the Penobscot to the Piscataqua, burning and 
destroying. Five hundred men were promptly raised, and sent 
to the Piscataqua, under the command of Capt. Church. But 
no enemy appeared there. 

Three British men-of-war, with a smaller vessel of twenty 
guns, and a fire-ship, sailed from Boston for the Penobscot, to 
attack and destroy the French squadron ; but the fleet was just 
visible, far away in the distant horizon, on its return to Quebec. 
Though it was pursued for a few hours, it was soon entirely 
lost sight of in a dense fog. The English vessels, on their way 
back to Boston, captured a small French shallop, commanded 
by Capt. Yilleau, with twenty-three French sailors on board. 

Major Church embarked a portion of his division in a small 
well-armed vessel, and sailed along the coast until he cast 
anchor at the Island of Monhegan. He then boldly pushed on 
to Penobscot Bay, and ascended, until abreast Camden Heights. 2 

1 " We will now inform the reader of the wretched fate of Capt. Pasco Chubb. 
It was not long after he had committed the bloody deed of killing the Indian 
sagamores, before he and the fort were taken by the French and the Indians. He 
was exchanged, and returned to Boston, where he suffered much disgrace for his 
ti-eachery with the Indians. He lived at Andover, in Massachusetts, where the 
Indians made an attack, in February, 1698, in which he was killed. ' When they 
found that they had killed him, it gave them as much joy,' says Hutchinson, 'as 
the destruction of a whole town, because they had taken their beloved vengeance 
of him for his perfidy and barbarity to their countrymen.' They shot him 
through several times, after he was dead." — Drake, book iii. p. 113. • 

2 " Camden Heights are about ten miles overland from Owl's Head. There are 
five or six of them, in a range from north-west to south-east; and they are clothed 
with forest-trees to their tops. Mount Batty, which is about three-quarters of a 
mile from Camden Harbor, is about nine hundred feet high. In our second war 
with England, an eighteen-pounder was placed upon its summit. 

"These are probably the mountains seen by Capt. Weymouth in 1605, arM by 
Capt. Smith in 1614, when they explored Penobscot Bay." — See Williamson' s History 
of Maine, vol. i. p. 95. 



248 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



The pilot, who was familiar with that region, and who had once 
been a captive there in the hands of the Indians, informed 
Capt. Church, that, about sixty miles up the river, there was 
a small island, which was a place of general resort by the 
Indians. 

It is supposed that this was the ancient Lett, or Oldtown 
Island. There was a village here, which, for a long time, con- 
tinued to be one of the most memorable of the Indian towns. It 
was situated on the southerly end of an island, containing about 
three hundred and fifty acres of very rich soil. Church as- 
cended the river in his vessel as far as what is called the Bend, 
where Eddington now stands. 1 Small vessels could usually 
ascend nearly to this point. Here Church cast anchor. Land- 
ing a portion of his force, he commenced a march up the west 
bank of the river. 

It was the month of August. The region was beautiful, and 
the climate in that latitude, at that season, charming. Ascend- 
ing a few miles, they passed many spots which the Indians had 
formerly inhabited, but which were then abandoned. It was 
the custom to hunt Indians as one would hunt wolves. Often 
no respect was paid to sex or age. The men succeeded in kill- 
ing four or five of the natives, and in wounding several. A 
shattered bone must be a terrible calamity to a poor Indian, who 
can have no surgical aid. 

The adventurers, having inflicted this amount of damage, 
returned to their vessel, and sailed for the Bay of Fundy. A 
few French emigrants had their scattered cabins on the northern 
shores of this bay, where their wives and children lived, in the 
extreme of poverty. They raised a few bushels of corn, caught 
a few fishes, and occasionally trapped a beaver, or shot a bird. 
Their comfortless homes were scarcely a remove above the wig- 
wam of the savage. 

In terror, the inmates of these hovels fled into the wilderness. 
Capt. Church burned their houses, destroyed their little har- 
vests, and plundered them of their furs and skins, and of what- 

1 "From the re-union of the Penohscot with the Stillwater, at the foot of 
Marsh Island, the river flows south-westerly three miles to the head of the tide at 
the Bend, where its usual ebb and flow are two feet." — Williamson, vol. i p. 68. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



249 



ever else was worth carrying away. 1 As he was sailing home- 
wards with his slender booty, he met, in the waters of 
Passamaquocldy Bay, an English squadron of three vessels, from 
Boston. Col. Hawthorne was in command. Capt. Church, 
thus superseded, was directed to join the fleet, and accompany 
them to an attack upon St. John. The enterprise was unsuc- 
cessful, and the vessels returned to Boston. 

The inhabitants of Maine, the English, and the savages, were 
now alike wretched. No man could leave his door without 
danger of being shot. No family could \&y down to sleep at 
night without being liable to hear the horrible war-whoop 
before the morning, and of being subjected to the awful tragedy 
of conflagration, scalping, and massacre. Stern Nature seemed 
in harmony with the cruelty of man. The winter was one of 
unprecedented cold ; and storms of sleet and snow howled 
through the tree-tops, and swept all the dreary fields. Many, 
both Indians and English, were starved to death.' Nine Indians, 
who were out hunting, after eating their dogs, were found dead, 
the victims of famine. 2 

Major Charles Frost was in command at Kittery. He was 
peculiarly obnoxious to the Indians, as they accused him of 
several acts of treachery. 3 A plan was formed to kill him. 
Several Indians hid behind a large log, about five miles from 
his house, to shoot him on his way to church. It was Sunday 
morning, June 4, 1697. Apparently, his wife was riding 
behind him, on a pillion ; and some one was walking by the side 
of the horse. There was a simultaneous discharge of the guns 
of the savages ; and all three fell to the ground in the convul- 
sions of death. 

1 "Among the settlements on the north shore of that hay, he made great 
destruction, and took considerable plunder." — Williamson, vol. i. p. 646. 

2 Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii. p. 556. 

3 "We have, in narrating the events in the life of Modokawando, noticed the 
voyage of Major Waldron to the eastern coast of Maine. How much treachery 
was manifested at that time by the Indians, which caused the English to massa- 
cre many of them, we shall not take upon us to declare. Yet this we cannot but 
bear in mind, that we have only the account of those who performed the tragedy, 
and not that of those on Avhom it fell. Capt- Charles Frost of Kittery was with 
Waldron upon that expedition, and, next to him, a principal actor in it." — Drake, 
book iii. p. 109. 



250 



TI1E HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Two young men who were hurrying with the tidings to the 
garrison at Wells were shot by the lurking Indians. Five sol- 
diers, who had ventured a little distance from the garrison at 
York, were found scalped, and with their bodies pierced with 
bullets. One unhappy man, who had incurred the rage of the 
savages, was roasted to death at a slow fire. A few men from 
Wells went upon Cow Island for fuel. A man and his two 
sons were stationed to keep watch. The lurking savages seized 
them, and carried them off in a canoe. There were several 
canoes. Lieut. Larabee was out on a scout. He caught sight 
of the little fleet, and shot three of the Indians, rescuing one 
captive. The other two were carried away. Doubtless the 
Indians, in revenge, tortured them to death. 

The French raised an army of fifteen hundred French and 
Indians to recapture Nova Scotia, and ravage all the coasts of 
New England. This was a prodigious force for this country, in 
those days. It created great alarm. At a vast expense of 
money and labor, all the fortifications were strengthened and 
supplied. Five hundred soldiers, under Major March, were 
pushed forward to the forts in Maine. Ranging parties were 
sent in all directions to intercept the Indians. 

Major March cast anchor, with his troops, at Damariscotta. 1 
A band of Indians had discerned his approach. They knew 
where he would attempt a landing, and concealed themselves in 
ambush. Scarcely had the troops placed their feet upon the 
shore of the silent and apparently solitary wilderness, when 
there came a loud report of musketry, a volley of bullets swept 
through their ranks, and their ears were almost deafened by 
the shrill war-whoop. Nearly thirty were killed or wounded. 
The English, now well accustomed to Indian warfare, rallied 
for a vigorous defence. The savages fled, probably with but 
very slight loss. It was their great aim to strike a blow, and 
then run before the blow could be returned. 2 

Two days after this, on the 11th of September, 1697, peace 

1 " Damariscotta is navigable for large ships about twelve miles from the sea. 
It is about half a mile wide. Paitherford's Island, a mile long, is at its mouth." — 
Williamson, vol. i. p. 56. 

2 Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii. p. 553. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



251 



between France and England was concluded by the famous 
Treaty of Ryswick. Tidings of the happy event did not reach 
Boston until the 10th of December. The Indians, unaided by 
the French, could accomplish but little, though there were 
occasional assassinations and plunderings. Early in the summer 
of 1698, the savages sent in their flags of truce to our outposts, 
imploring peace. 

A conference was held at Penobscot on the 14th of October, 
1698. Two commissioners from Massachusetts met six saga- 
mores, accompanied by a large retinue of Indians. The Indians 
were very sad. Mournfully they sang requiems for the dead. 
War to them had brought famine, and famine had brought 
pestilence. A terrible disease was sweeping away hundreds of 
their people. Many of their most illustrious men, the revered 
Madockawando 1 being of the number, were included among its 
victims. The English commissioners insisted, that, in addition 
to the return of all the captives, the Indians should drive all the 
Catholic missionaries out of their country. It certainly speaks 
well for the influence which these teachers had exerted upon 
the minds of the savages, that the sagamores, as with one voice, 
should have replied, " The white prisoners will be free to go 
home, or stay with their Indian friends. But the good mission- 
aries must not be driven away." 

Another conference was held at Marepoint, now in the town 
of Brunswick, in January, 1699. Major Converse and Col. 
Phillips met the sagamores of most, if not all, the tribes between 
the Piscataqua and the Penobscot. Here a previous treaty was 
signed and ratified, with additional articles. The dreadful war 
had lasted ten years, impoverishing all, enriching none. The 
woes it had caused, no finite imagination can gauge. It is esti- 
mated that between five and seven hundred of the English were 
killed, and two hundred and fifty were carried into captivity, 
many of whom perished. One Indian warrior, Assacombuit, 2 

1 "Madockawando and Squando were the most powerful chiefs during this 
war. They are described by Hubbard as ' a strange kind of moralized savages, 
grave and serious in their speech, and not without some show of a kind of 
religion.' " — Willis's History of Portland, p. 213. 

2 "This sachem was known among the French by the name of ISTescambiouit; 
but among the English he was called Assacambuit and Assacombuit. He was as 



252 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



boasted, and probably truthfully, that he had killed or captured 
a hundred and fifty men, women, and children. 1 

It is a remarkable fact, but well authenticated, that, in many 
cases, young children captured by the savages, and brought up 
among them, were often very unwilling to leave the wigwam, 
and return to civilized life. The attachment between them and 
the members of the Indian families became very strong. Very 
affecting were the partings which sometimes took place. Even 
in the present case, Mr. Williamson testifies, that " a few who 
were captured in their childhood, becoming attached to the 
society of the savages, chose to remain with them, and never 
would leave the tribes." 

It will be remembered that the royal charter of William and 
Mary, dated Oct. 7, 1691, included essentially the territory of 
the present State of Maine, in two great divisions. One of 
these, extending from Piscataqua to the Kennebec River, was 
called the Province of Maine ; the other, which included the 
region between the Kennebec and the St. Croix, was denomi- 
nated the Province of Sagadahoc. 2 

Maine became virtually a province of Massachusetts, and so 
continued for a hundred and thirty years. 3 The administration 
of Sir William Phips continued about two and a half years. 
He died in London in the year 1694. Mr. Williamson pays the 
following well-merited tribute to his memory: 4 — 

" He was a man. of benevolent disposition and accredited piety, though 
sometimes unable to repress the ebullitions of temper. He was not only 

faithful to the French as one of their own nation. In 1706 he sailed for France, 
and was presented to his Majesty Louis XIV., at Versailles. Here, among other 
eminent personages, he became known to the historian Charlevoix. The king 
having presented him an elegant sword, he is reported to have said, holding up 
his hand, — 

" ' This hand has slain a hundred and forty of your Majesty's enemies in Xew 
England.' 

"Whereupon the king forthwith knighted him, and ordered that henceforth a 
pension of eight livres a day (about §1.50) be allowed him for life." — Drake, book 
iii. p. 130. 

1 See Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii. p. 558; History of New England, by Daniel 
Neal, vol. ii. p. 544; Williamson, vol. i. p. 650. 

2 This region was inserted in the charter, without any specific name, though it 
was usually called as »ve have mentioned. — Summary of British Settlements in 
North America, by William Douglass, voL i. p. 332. 

8 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 10. 
4 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 23. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



253 



energetic and exceedingly persevering in his purposes, but he possessed good 
abilities, unsullied integrity, and strong attachments. His unremitting as- 
siduities to promote the best interests of Maine, the Province of his nativity, 
and to enforce measures devised for its defence and relief, are evidences 
monumental of his patriotism, and his high sense of obligation and duty." 

Massachusetts, in assuming the government of Maine, re- 
signed to the crown of England all jurisdictional rights to Nova 
Scotia. The community there consisted mainly of a mixed 
breed of Canadians and Indians. They had been mostly under 
French influence, were generally Roman Catholics, and their 
sympathies were with France. The people of all Maine had 
become essentially one with the people of Massachusetts in 
their social habits, their political views, and their religious 
observances. Massachusetts had ever been to Maine a kind and 
sympathizing friend. 

The impoverishment of the inhabitants of Maine at the close 
of -the war was dreadful, almost beyond comprehension. 
Houses, barns, and mills, with all the implements of agriculture, 
had been consumed by the flames. 1 The people of York wished 
for a grist-mill. They were unable to build one. They offered 
a man in Portsmouth, if he would put up a mill, a* lot of land 
to build it upon, liberty to cut such timber as he needed, and 
their pledge to carry all their corn to his mill so long as he kept 
it in order. 

The worn and wasted people gradually returned to the deso- 
lated spots which had once been their homes. Log-cabins again 
began to arise in the solitudes of Falmouth, Scarborough, and 
at various other points, over which pitiless war had rolled its 
billows. In this state of affairs, some malicious persons set the 
cruel report in circulation, that the colonists were making 
preparation to fall upon the Indian tribes, and exterminate them. 
It was said that this rumor originated with the French, who 
were still anxious to extend their possessions farther west, and 
to avail themselves of the aid of the savages. 2 

The Indians, greatly frightened, began to withdraw from the 

1 "No mills, no enclosures, no roads, but, on the contrary, dilapidated habita- 
tions, wide wasted fields, and melancholy ruins." — Williamson, vol. ii. p. 31. 

2 Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, vol. ii. p. 113. 



254 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



English settlements. This alarmed the English ; and they com- 
menced preparations for defence, apprehending that the Indians 
were again to attack them. These hostile demonstrations con- 
firmed the Indians in their fears ; and in all probability they 
began to draw nearer to the French. This confirmed the suspi- 
cions of the English, and led to measures whose tendency was 
only to exasperate. 

The militia was ordered to be in constant readiness. At 
York, Wells, and Kitteiy, well-armed soldiers were posted. A 
proclamation was issued, which, while it cautioned the people 
against giving any just provocation to the Indians, ordered them 
to be constantly on the watch to guard against treachery. 1 
Guards were appointed to patrol the towns every night, from 
nine till morning. This state of affairs necessarily put an end 
to all peace of mind and to all friendly intercourse. 

It would seem as though man was doomed to make his brother- 
man miserable. The religion of the Son of God, that is the 
religion which recognizes God as our common Father, and all 
men as brethren, and whose fundamental principle is that we 
should do to others as we would that others should do to us, 
would have made Maine, from the beginning, almost a paradise. 
But what an awful tragedy does its history reveal ! And such 
has been, essentially, the history of all the nations. Such has 
been life upon this planet from the fall of Adam to the present 
hour. 

To add to these calamities, menaces of war began again to 
arise between France and England. Unfortunately, by the 
Treaty of Ryswick, the boundaries between the English and 
French possessions on this continent had not been clearly de- 
fined. Both courts still claimed the territory between the Sag- 
adahoc and the St. Croix. The English said that they had 
resigned Nova Scotia to France, but nothing more. 

In 1699 Lord Bellamont arrived in Boston, appointed by the 
king as governor of New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, 
and Maine. He was an excellent man, intelligent and cour- 
teous, with enlarged views of both civil and religious liberty. 8 

1 Records, Resolves, and Journals of the Massachusetts Government, vol. vi. 
p. 57. 

2 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 32. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



255 



James II. of England, who had been driven from the throne by 
an indignant people, to give place to his son-in-law, William, 
died at St. Germain, in France, on the 16th of September, 1701. 
His son, called the Pretender, a zealous Catholic, claimed to be 
the legitimate King of England. The Catholic court of France 
supported his claim. Six months after, on the 8th of March, 
King William died, deeply lamented. His wife, it will be 
remembered, was Mary, a daughter of James II. She had a 
sister Anne. She was declared by the British parliament to be 
the legitimate successor of William. She ascended the throne 
on the 4th of May, 1702. War was immediately declared 
against France, whose court was maintaining a rival for the 
crown. 

The war-cloud instantly threw its shadow upon our shores. 
The British ministry claimed the whole Province of Sagada- 
hoc, and the right, in common with France, to the fisheries, on 
all these northern seas. 1 Both of these claims France resisted. 
Queen Anne appointed Joseph Dudley governor of her New 
England provinces. " He manfully applied," writes William- 
son, " his splendid abilities, his courtly manners, and his exten- 
sive knowledge, to render all the acts of his administration 
acceptable to every class of people." 

The war between France and England assumed very much 
the aspect of a religious war, a conflict between Protestantism 
and Catholicism. 2 

It was generally believed that the Catholic missionaries in 
Maine were endeavoring to seduce the Indians from their alle- 

1 "The English people engaged in the Newfoundland fisheries were making 
great voyages. About twenty-seven hundred fishermen, and two hundred and 
twenty vessels, were employed this single year (seventeen hundred and one). 
They took and cured two hundred thousand quintals of fish, besides four thou- 
sand hogsheads of train and liver oil." — Williamson, vol. ii. p. 32. 

2 Gov. Bellamont, in one of his addresses to the General Court of Massachu- 
setts, said, "Divine providence, in bringing to pass the late happy and won- 
derful revolution in England, has been pleased to make King William the glorious 
instrument of our deliverance from the odious fetters and chains of Popery and 
despotism, which had been artfully used to enslave our consciences, and subvert 
all our civil rights. It is too well known what nation that king (James II.) 
favored, of what religion he died, and no less what must have been the execra- 
ble treachery of him who parted with Acadia or Nova Scotia, and the noble fishery 
on that coast." 



25G 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



giance to the British crown, and to enlist their sympathies in 
behalf of France. A legislative act was therefore passed, as 
early as March, 1700, which ordered the Catholic missionaries to 
leave the State before the tenth day of the next September, 
under penalty of exemplary punishment. 

This was an act of intolerance. But if it were true, as the 
legislature fully believed, that these missionaries were endeavor- 
ing to incite the savages to renew their horrible scenes of con- 
flagration, scalping, and murder, this was the mildest punishment, 
which, under the circumstances, could have been inflicted upon 
them. 

Gov. Dudley arranged to hold a council personally with the 
sagamores of the eastern tribes, that he might learn their 
disposition and intentions. The assembly met at Falmouth, on 
the Casco peninsula, the 20th of June, 1703. It was evident 
that the sagamores did not feel that it was safe for them to rely 
upon the honor of the English. They came, prepared to defend 
themselves, if treachery were to be practised upon them. 

Eleven sagamores appeared, representing five of the most 
important tribes in Maine. Gov. Dudley, aware of the effect 
of imposing appearances upon the savages, came in almost regal 
pomp. A numerous retinue of gentlemen from Massachusetts 
and New Hampshire accompanied him. 

But the Indians, in the splendor of the occasion, quite eclipsed 
their white brethren. The sagamores entered the fine harbor 
of Portland in the balmy sunshine of a June day, with a fleet 
of sixty-five canoes, containing two hundred and fifty plumed 
and painted warriors, in their richest display of embroidered and 
fringed and gorgeously-colored habiliments. They were all 
well armed ; and the beholders were much impressed by their 
martial appearance. 1 

The governor had brought a large tent, sufficiently capacious 
to accommodate his suite and the Indian chiefs. When all had 
assembled, the governor arose, and said, — 

4 4 1 have come to you commissioned by the great and good Queen of Eng- 
land. I would esteem you all as brothers and friends. It is my -wish to 
reconcile every difficulty whatever that has happened since the last treaty." 

1 History of the Indian Wars, by Samuel Penhallow; Coll. of N. H. Hist. Soc, 
vol. i. p. 20. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



257 



A Tarratine chief, called Simmo, rose to reply. With great 
dignity of manner he said, — 

11 We thank you, good brother, for coming so far to talk with us. It is a 
great favor. The clouds gather, and darken the sky. But we still sing 
with love the songs of peace. Believe my words. So far as the sun is 
above the earth, so far are our thoughts from war, or from the least desire 
of a rupture between us. ' ' 

Presents were then exchanged, and, with some simple yet 
solemn ceremonials, professions of friendship were ratified. The 
council continued in session for two or three days. Several 
subjects were discussed. Bomaseen, of whom we have before 
spoken, is reported, during the conference, to have said, — 

" Although several missionaries have come to us, sent by the French, to 
break the peace between the English and us, yet their words have made no 
impression upon us. We are as firm as the mountains, and will so continue 
as long as the sun and moon endure." 1 

Professions of cordial frendship were uttered on both sides. 
Eveiy thing seemed to indicate a settled peace. The fraterniza- 
tion was rather French in its character than English ; for there 
was feasting, shouting, dancing, and singing, according to the 
most approved measures of French jollification. 

The joyful tidings spread rapidly, and lifted a very heavy bur- 
den from the hearts of the people, who were appalled in con- 
templating the horrors of another Indian war. Many were 
preparing to flee again to the safer regions of Massachusetts. 
But now they were encouraged to remain. A gentle tide of 
emigration began also to flow in, influenced by the cheapness of 
the land, the richness of the soil, the abundance of valuable 
timber, and the fisheries, which were yielding such valuable 
returns. 2 

Some suspected the Indians of having. treacherous intentions 
at this council. And this was simply because, in firing a salute 
in celebration of the conclusion of peace, their guns were found 
loaded with balls. But the Indians never thought of loading 

1 Drake, book iii. p. 117. 

2 Penhallow's History of the "Wars of New England, p. 5. 

17 



258 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



their guns with powder only. They had often been betrayed. 
They had many not unreasonable suspicions, that the proposed 
council was merely a trap, in which the treacherous English 
were plotting to seize all their principal sagamores. They, 
therefore, came prepared to defend themselves, should it be 
necessary to do so. 1 

" King Philip's War," so called, lasted but three years ; but 
they were years fraught with inconceivable woe. Even civilized 
men in war gradually lose all humane attributes. The average 
savage becomes a perfect demon. The second conflict was 
usually called " King William's War." It originated in dissen- 
sions between the courts of France and England, which plunged 
the two nations into hostilities. The French endeavored to 
weaken her foe by the capture of her New England colonies. The 
savages were not reluctant to engage in their service as allies ; 
for they had a chance of thus recovering their county from 
settlers whom they began to dislike and dread. This dreadful 
war, in which savage ferocity received a new and terrible 
impulse from French science and supplies, lasted ten years. 

John Bull has never been a favorite in any land where he has 
placed his foot. The Indians never loved the English. There 
were individual exceptions ; but the English, generally, were 
only tolerated by the natives. An air of melancholy now per- 
vaded the minds of all the reflecting sagamores. They saw 
their tribes fast dwindling, while the English were increasing in 
numbers and power. Extensive territory, formerly the undis- 
puted hunting-grounds of the tribes, was now claimed by the 
invaders, either as theirs by the right of conquest, or by purchase, 
wl^ich both parties knew to be fraudulent. The English were 
arrogant, domineering, apparently regarding the Indian as one 
who had no rights which an Englishman was bound to respect. 
The French had identified themselves with the Indians, married 
into their families, taught them many arts of war, and abundantly 
supplied them with the best of arms and ammunition. They 

1 " Bomaseen, a sachem of a tribe of the Kennebecs, -whose residence was at an 
ancient seat of the sagamores, called Xorridgewock, in 1694, came to the fort at 
Pemaquid, with a flag of .ruce. He was treacherously seized by those who com- 
manded, and sent prisoner to Boston, where he remained some months in a loath- 
some prison." — Drake, p. 111. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



259 



had very zealously imbued their minds with the principles of 
the Catholic religion, whose ceremonies were peculiarly calcu- 
lated to captivate the untutored savage. They had also, in 
some degree, transferred to their minds the Frenchman's hered- 
itary hatred of the Englishman. Mr. Williamson, in his admira- 
ble " History of Maine," fairly represents the prevailing English 
feeling with regard to the Indians. He writes, — 

11 They agreed with the French in their aversion to the English, and in a 
hatred of their free politics and religious sentiments. And when such pas- 
sions, in minds undisciplined, are influenced by fanaticism, they know 
neither restraints nor limits. All their acquaintance with the arts of civil- 
ized life seemed rather to abase than elevate their character. 

"They made no advancements in mental culture, moral sense, honest 
industry, or manly enterprise. Infatuated with the notion of Catholic indul- 
gences, they grew bolder in animosity, insolence, and crime. Their enmity 
was more implacable, their habits more depraved; and a keener appetite 
was given for ardent spirits, for rapine, and for blood. Dupes to the French, 
they lost all regard to the sanctity of treaty obligations. Indian faith, among 
the English, became as proverbially bad as Punic among the ancient Ro- 
mans." 1 

M. Callieres, governor at Montreal, whatever may have been 
his motives, in fact adopted a very different policy from that of 
the English He sent envoys to the broken and despairing 
remnants of the tribes in Maine, inviting them to emigrate to 
Canada. He set apart for them large and inviting tracts of 
land on the banks of the Becancourt and the St. Francois, 
— streams which flow into the St. Lawrence, from the south, 
eighty or ninety miles above Quebec. On each of these rivers, 
clusters of wigwams arose. The villages were pleasantly situ- 
ated, each with a church and a parsonage house. A ferry was 
also established for the convenience of the Indians in crossing 
the St. Lawrence to Trois Rivieres, on the opposite shore. 2 

With such different treatment, there can be no question as to 
the side to which the Indian would incline in case of hostilities. 
The remnants of four tribes repaired to the spot to which they 

1 "Williamson, vol. ii. p. 40. 

2 History of the French Dominions in North and South America, by Thomas 
Jeffreys, pp. 9-11; Topographical Description of Canada, by Joseph Bouchette, 
p. 338. 



260 



THE n I STORY OF MAINE. 



were thus hospitably invited, and blended into a new tribe, called 
the St. Francois Indians. It is interesting to see how differently 
precisely the same facts may be presented according to the views 
of the writer. The very candid Mr. Williamson writes, and 
perhaps with truth (for who can read the human heart ?), " At 
these places, designed to be the rendezvous of the natives, the 
French intended to command their trade and plunder, to plan 
their excursions, and -direct their motions against the English 
frontiers." 1 

Baron Castine had returned to France from his extensive 
landed estate on the Penobscot. He had left behind him, in 
possession of the large property, his son and heir, called Castine 
the Younger. He was the child of Castine's Tarratine wife, 
who, it will be remembered, was the daughter of the renowned, 
and at least partially-civilized, sagamore, Madokawando. A 
riotous band of worthless Englishmen met at the house of 
young Castine, under pretence of making him a friendly visit. 

Regarding their host as half Indian, they treated him with 
every indignity. Rioting through his house like veritable 
savages, they plundered it of every thing which they deemed 
worth carrying away. It was one of the basest acts of treachery, 
and was so regarded by all respectable men. 2 The government 
denounced it in severe terms, promising M. Castine restitution, 
and assuring him that the offenders, if they could be arrested, 
should be severely punished. The event was the more deeply 
deplored, since there were indications of another war between 
France and England. Such a war would inevitably involve the 
colonies ; and Indian warriors, led by French officers, might 
inflict an incalculable amount of injury. 

Soon France and England again grappled in what was called 
" Queen Anne's War," and, in the New England colonies, the 
" Third Indian War." All over the world, Frenchmen and 
Englishmen deemed themselves enemies, who were bound to do 
each other all the injury in their power. A special effort was 

1 "Williamson, vol. ii. p. 40. 

2 " Outrageous, however, as it was, the well-minded sufferer only complained 
and expostulated, without avenging himself ; for, in policy and sentiment, he was 
the friend of tranquillity." — Williamson, vol. ii. p. 42. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



261 



to be made in the New World, by the English, to wrench colonies 
from the French, and, by the French, to wrest them from the 
English. Unfortunately, the savages were far more ready to 
rally beneath the banners of France than beneath those of Great 
Britain. 

Early in August, 1703, a body of five hundred French and 
Indians entered upon the eastern frontiers of Maine. These 
well-armed troops had but feeble foes to encounter. They 
divided into six or seven parties, of about seventy-five men 
each, to attack the infant settlements, where scarcely any resist- 
ance was to be anticipated. On the same day, the 10th of 
August, Wells, Cape Porpoise, Saco, Scarborough, Spurwink, 
Purpooduck, and Casco were assailed. The consternation and 
destruction were such, that no detailed record was made of 
the awful scenes which ensued. In Wells, thirty-nine of the 
inhabitants were either killed, or carried into captivity. 1 This 
is all we know of the terrible tragedy. What dwellings were 
burned, what scenes of individual anguish and suffering oc- 
curred, must remain untold, till, at the day of judgment, all the 
secrets of this fearful drama of time and sin shall be revealed. 

Mr. Bourne, in his valuable " History of Wells and Kenne- •% 
bunk," after tireless research, has collected a few interesting 
traditionary narratives, which are probably founded in fact, and 
which are but a repetition of those scenes of horror with which 
the reader is already familiar. 

A few fishermen only resided at Cape Porpoise. The demo- 
niac assailants plundered their humble homes, laid them in ashes, 
and carried the inmates, all whom they could seize, off as prison- 
ers. At Winter Harbor 2 there was a small garrison. They 
fought for a short time bravely ; but after having several killed 

1 " The horrors of that day cannot be depicted, — families broken up, hus- 
bands, wives, or children taken from the home circle. Almost every one had lost 
a friend dear to his heart. Many were wounded, barely escaping death or cap- 
tivity. Valuable citizens, on whom reliance was placed for protection and support 
in this terrible crisis, were either killed, or carried away, exposed to the relentless 
cruelty of the savage enemy." — History of Wells and Kennebunk, by Edward E. 
Bourne, p. 245. 

2 "The celebrated place called 'Winter Harbor,' after an ancient inhabitant 
there by the name of Winter, is above Wood Island, six miles below Saco bridge, 
and the head of the tide." — Williamson, vol. i. p. 2G. 



262 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



and wounded, and being overpowered by numbers, the survivors 
were compelled to surrender themselves to captivity. Eleven 
were killed, and twenty-four were captured. 

The people of Scarborough seem to have received some inti- 
mation of the approach of the foe ; and all, hurrying into the 
garrison, prepared to defend themselves to the last extremity. 
A flag of truce was sent to the fort by a captive. The bearer 
was detained, and no answer returned. After a " long siege," 
when the men were completely exhausted, and were on the 
point of capitulating, re-enforcements arrived, and the baffled 
foe retired. Undoubtedly every thing outside of the garrison 
was destroyed. 

In Spurwink, 1 twenty-two were killed, or taken captive; and 
the little settlement was laid entirely ctesolate. Purpooduck 
contained but nine log-cabins. The families were taken entirely 
by surprise. It so happened that all the men were away. Only 
women and children were left behind. The savages, allies of 
men who called themselves Christians, burned down the dwell- 
ings, butchered twenty -five of the helpless inmates, and carried 
away eight as prisoners. The horrid spectacle of mangled 
bodies which they left behind is too revolting to be recorded. 

The little settlement at Casco, 2 where there was a garrison, 
was the most remote eastern frontier. A new fort had been 
constructed here, which was placed under the command of 
Major John March, with a garrison of thirty men. The three 
Indian chiefs who led the assailing party were Moxus, Wanun- 
gonet, and Assacombuit, all sagamores of great renown. The 
last will be remembered as the chief who was knighted by 
Louis XIV., and received from him the present of an elegant 
sword. 

1 Scarborough extends toward the east, six miles in width on the coast, to tho 
mouth of Spurwink River, which seems to cut off, as it hounds the eastwardly 
corner of the town." — Williamson, vol. i. p. 24. 

2 "The old Indian name 'Casco ' continued to he used all the first century after 
the settlement, notwithstanding the town had received from Massachusetts the 
corporate name 'Falmouth,' as early as 1658. The plantation upon the Neck, and, 
indeed, all others in the hay, were called by the general name of ' Casco ' or ' Casco 
Bay.' No boundaries were defined; but, when a particular spot was designated, 
the local terms, borrowed principally from the Indians, were used." — History of 
Portland, by William Willis, pp. 49-96. 



THE BISTORT OF MAINE. 



263 



It is said, we know not by what authority, that the three 
sagamores sent a flag of truce, inviting Major March to a con- 
ference. Though he suspected treachery, he went out upon the 
plain to meet them, unarmed, and taking with him only two 
very aged and infirm men. The chiefs saluted him with civility, 
and then, drawing their tomahawks from beneath their robes, 
the three fell furiously upon Major March ; while his two com- 
panions, Messrs. Phippen and Kent, were shot down by Indians 
in ambush. 1 March, being a very strong man, wrested a toma- 
hawk from one of his assailants, and valiantly defended himself 
against the three. All this could scarcely have occupied one 
single minute of time ; and yet, at that very minute, Sergeant 
Hook arrived, with a file of ten men, from the fort, and rescued 
the major from his peril. This story seems so very improbable, 
that it is impossible to give it full credence. 2 

The siege continued six days and six nights. There was no 
repose for the inmates of the garrison, as every moment an 
assault was expected from overpowering numbers. At the close 
of the six days, the enemy received a re-enforcement, increasing 
their number to about five hundred. 3 The new arrivals con- 
sisted of detachments flushed with victory. M. Bobassin, a 
French officer, then assumed command. He brought with him 
a sloop and two shallops, which he had captured, and also 
much plunder. Scientifically he went to work in an attempt 
to undermine the fort on the water-side. As the fort was situ- 
ated on a high bank, this could be done without exposure to 
any fire from the garrison. Their force was so superior to that 
of the English, that they had nothing to fear from a sally. 

They were advancing in this engineering very rapidly and 
prosperously, and were on the eve of the capture, when an 
armed vessel, commanded by Capt. Cyprian Southack, came to 
the aid of the despairing garrison. Probably the vessel was 
armed with cannon, which the assailants, having muskets only, 
could not resist. The tide of victory was turned. The French 

1 Penhallow, in his history of Indian wars, writes, " Phippen and Kent, "being 
advanced in years, were so infirm, that 1 might say of them, as Juvenal said of 
Priam, 1 They had scarce blood enough to tinge the knife of the sacrifice.' " 

2 Willis's History of Portland, p. 314. 
8 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 42. 



264 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



and Indians, abandoning every thing, fled precipitately. This 
magnificent bay was full of indentations, into which the canoes 
of the savages could glide. Capt. Southack recaptured the 
sloop and two shallops ; but the French and Indians, having a 
flotilla of two hundred birch canoes, effected their escape. 

The soldiers of the garrison now came out to view the deso- 
lations which this savage warfare had caused. Every thing 
which would burn was reduced to ashes. Nothing remained but 
shapeless ruins. When Major March was appointed to the com- 
mand of this post, he moved there with his family. Being a 
gentleman of considerable means and great energy, he was soon 
in possession of a very thrifty farm. He wrote to the General 
Court, that he had lost, by the attack, a sloop and its furniture, 
eighty-nine head of sheep and cattle, five acres and a half of 
wheat, six acres of excellent pease, and four acres and a half of 
Indian corn. His whole loss exceeded five hundred pounds. 1 
It is estimated, that, in this brief campaign, the enemy killed or 
captured one hundred and fifty of the inhabitants of Maine. 2 

1 Bourne's History of Wells and Kennebunk, p. 314. 

2 "To arm a force sufficient to repel their cruel invaders, government deemed it 
necessary to call to its aid the avarice of the people; and they offered a bounty of 
forty pounds for every Indian scalp that should be brought in. This excited a 
spirit of enterprise in the inhabitants, -which made them endure incredible hard- 
ships in pursuing the enemy through the forests, in the depths of winter, to 
procure this valuable merchandise." — History of Portland, by William Willis, 
p. 319. 



CHAPTER XV. 



THE EIYAL CLAIMS OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 

Jocelyn's Visit — The Destruction of Black Point — The Vicissitudes of War — 
A Naval Expedition — Merciless Ravages — Destruction at Port Royal — The 
Expedition to Norridgewock — Exchange of Prisoners — Treason suspected 
— Incidents of the Conflict — A Renewed Attack upon Port Royal — Rage 
of Gov. Dudley — The Third Attack and its Failure — Naval Battle at Winter 
Harbor — The Conquest of Nova Scotia — The Commission to Quebec — 
Exchange of Menaces. 

Hp HIS sudden outburst of savage violence threw the whole 



-L region into a state of terrible confusion. Many fled ; others 
assembled their families in the crowded and consequently com- 
fortless garrison-houses, arid went armed, and in bands, to their 
work. Massachusetts, with her customary energy, sent prompt 
aid. A troop of horsemen was quartered at Wells. Three 
hundred and sixty men were marched to Pegwacket, 1 which was 
one of the principal resorts of the Indians. Another well-armed 
band was sent to Ossipee Ponds. 3 

The hostile bands of French and Indians continued to ravage 
the seacoast, apparently resolved to destroy every garrison, to 
lay every settlement in ruins, and entirely to depopulate the 
country of its English inhabitants. There was a region called 
Black Point, then quite noted, which was a portion of the 

1 "Betwteen Fryeburg Academy and Saco River is the celebrated Lovell's 
Pond, half a league in length, though less than a mile in width at any place. This 
beautiful section of country was anciently called Pegwacket (Peckwalket, Pe- 
guawett), one of the principal and most favorite lodgements of the Sokokis tribe, 
and also the theatre of a desperate battle with the Indians. Here are curious 
mounds of earth, one sixty feet in circumference, artificially raised by them, of 
which no tradition nor conjecture can give any satisfactory account." — William' 
*on, vol. i. p. 28. 

2 The Ossipee Eiver, one of the principal tributaries of the Saco, takes its rise 
among these ponds, a few miles across the line in New Hampshire. 




2G5 



2G6 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



present town of Scarborough. Capt. Jocelyn, to the record of 
whose voyages we have before referred, touched at this place, 
in the year 1638, to visit his brother Hemy, who then resided 
there. In his journal he writes, — 

" Having refreshed myself for a day or two at Noddle's Island, I crossed 
the bay in a small boat to Boston, which was then rather a village than a 
town, there being not above twenty or thirty houses. The 12th of July I 
took boat for the eastern part of the country, and arrived at Black Point, in 
the Province of Maine, which is a hundred and fifty miles from Boston, the 
fourteenth day; the country all along, as I sailed, being no other than a 
mere wilderness, here and there, by the seaside, a few scattered plantations 
with as few houses." 1 

Here the families were collected in the garrison-house. On 
the morning of the 6th of October, 1703, most of the men, 
nineteen in number, all well armed, went out together to work 
in the meadows. Lieut. Wyatt and eight men were left to guard 
the garrison. Two hundred Indians rose from ambush upon 
the working-party, and either killed or captured all but one. 
The victors then attacked the fort. There chanced to be two 
small vessels in the harbor. The crews, alarmed by the report 
of the guns, hastily repaired to the aid of the garrison. They 
made a bold resistance. At length, seeing evidence that the 
fort must fall into the hands of the overpowering assailants, 
they all succeeded in escaping to the vessels. 

The savages, with hideous yells, applied the torch to all the 
dwellings, and, like fiends, danced around the flames. The ves- 
sels bore their melancholy freight, many of them widows and 
orphans, to some place of safety, where they could be fed and 
clothed by the hand of charity. A gang attacked Arthur Brag- 
don's house in York, and tomahawked himself, his wife, and five 
children. Mrs. Hannah Parsons (a widow) and her daughter 
were carried into captivity. It is said, that, returning to Canada, 
the savages came near starvation. In this great extremity, they 
were about to kill the child, and built a fire to roast and eat her, 
when a dog fell in their way, and supplied the place of the little 
girl. 2 At Berwick, two houses were burned, one man was killed, 

1 Jocelyn's Voyages, pp. 18, 20. 

2 Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, voL il p. 149. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



267 



one wounded, and three carried into captivity. They attacked 
the garrison, but were repulsed. In their rage they bound one 
of their prisoners, Joseph Ring, to a stake, and tortured him to 
death with every device of demoniac cruelty. They danced 
around their victim, responding to every groan with shouts and 
yells of delight. 

Major March of Casco, with three hundred men, pursued a 
band of the retiring foe as far as Pegwacket, where he suc- 
ceeded in killing six, in capturing six, and in recovering consid- 
erable plunder. It is said that this was the first loss which the 
savages experienced in this desolating campaign. The liberal 
reward offered by the legislature for Indian scalps, which in- 
cluded a bounty of twenty pounds for every Indian child under 
ten years of age, induced Capt. Tyng and several others to 
organize hunting-parties to traverse the wilderness on snow- 
shoes, in mid-winter, to hunt down the savages ; but all these 
expeditions were unsuccessful. 

During this melancholy winter, the government expended 
nearly a thousand dollars in establishing a strong garrison near 
the falls in Saco. Spring came, with its sunny skies and swell- 
ing buds, only to renew the terror of the people. This was the 
season for the savages to re-open their campaigning. The 
French, in Canada, had furnished their allies with ample sup- 
plies. 

Major Mason, with nearly a hundred friendly Indians, belong- 
ing to the Pequods and Mohegans of Connecticut, was stationed 
at Berwick. Still the prowling savages succeeded in shooting 
several persons, and, in expression of their hatred, horribly 
mangled their remains. In addition to these marauding-parties, 
plundering, burning, and murdering on the land, French pri- 
vateers swept the coast. Not a fishing-boat could leave a bay 
or inlet without danger of capture. It is often said that an 
offensive is the best defensive war. It was decided to be expe- 
dient to attack the French in Canada and Nova Scotia. Thus 
the desolations of war would be removed from Maine into the 
regions of the enemy, and the French would be constrained to 
retain their forces at home for the protection of their own fire- 
sides. 



268 



TEE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



An expedition was intrusted to Major Benjamin Church, who 
had obtained much renown in Indian warfare. He was invested 
with the title of colonel ; and five hundred men were placed 
under his command. Three vessels-of-war convoyed his little 
fleet of fifty-one boats, of various sizes. One of the war-ships 
carried forty-eight guns, the other thirty-two. The third was a 
province galley. The fleet sailed from Boston the 21st of May, 
1704. 

The vessels first cast anchor at the Island of Metinicus, just 
out of Penobscot Bay. Two armed boats were sent to a neigh- 
boring island, where they captured a French family and a 
Canadian Indian. The captives were not disposed to be com- 
municative. But threats extorted from them the information 
that there were several other cabins along the shores in the 
vicinity, and that some French officers were building a fort at 
Passamaquoddy. The prisoners were compelled to act as pilots 
in conducting several armed boats to the dwellings of their 
friends. 

These were not days of forbearance and mercy. The atro- 
cities which had been perpetrated by the French and Indians 
were such, that the avengers were ready to shoot down men, 
women, and children as pitilessly as if they had been so many 
wolves. Still it was expedient to take as many captives as pos- 
sible, that they might be used as ransom for English prisoners. 

Quite a number of both French and Indians were killed ; and 
several captives were taken. Among the latter was a daughter 
of Baron Castine with her children, we know not how many. 
Her husband, a gentleman of wealth and culture, was then on 
a visit to France. 

Again the fleet spread its sails. After a brief tarry at Mount 
Desert, the party proceeded to Passamaquoddy Bay, in whose 
lonely waters a secret place of anchorage was sought. 1 A 
squadron of whale-boats was despatched, led by Col. Church 

1 "Passamquoddy Bay lies partly in the State of Maine, and partly in the 
British Province of New Brunswick. It is six miles wide, and twelve miles long. 
It has a sufficient depth of water for the largest vessels, and is never closed hy ice. 
It abounds with cod, mackerel, herring, and other fish. The "boundary of the 
United States passes through it, on its west side, into St. Croix River, which 
enters its north-west part." — McCulloch's Geographical Dictionary. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



269 



himself, to explore the shores. That the settlers in the lonely 
cabins might not be apprised of his approach, and thus escape 
into the woods, he rowed by night, and kept concealed by day. 
Orders were given, that not a gun should be fired, even to shoot 
an Indian, if he could possibly be killed, or taken, in any other 
way. 

Thus he succeeded in capturing, one after another, four 
French emigrant families. They were all poor, and there was 
but little plunder in their log-cabins worth taking ; but, such 
as it was, it was seized, and placed in the boats. One of the 
captures consisted of the family of a poor French widow, with 
her orphan-children. Col. Church was energetic and merciless. 
The scenes of horror he had witnessed had roused his soul to 
the highest pitch of rage, and had hardened his heart. The 
readiness with which he would retaliate upon helpless ones, no 
matter how innocent, the wrongs which demoniac men had in- 
flicted upon the dwellers in Maine, drew down upon him severe 
censure, and has materially dimmed the splendor of his other- 
wise great exploits. He then ravaged the surrounding region 
with the indiscriminate mercilessness of the' tornado. The 
widow and the orphan were alike the victims of his fury. 1 

From Passamaquoddy Bay, the armament sailed out into the 
Bay of Fundy, that immense sheet of water which separates 
New Brunswick from Nova Scotia, and renders the latter prov- 
ince so nearly an island, that it is entered by a neck of land 
only about twenty miles wide. Here the avenging squadron 
divided. The ships, with several of the boats, crossed the bay, 
a distance of about sixty miles, to Port Royal (Annapolis). 

The day before the arrival of the fleet, Castine the Younger, 
with about sixt}^ Canadian soldiers, had re-enforced the garrison 
in their strong works. The fort was deemed too formidable to 
be attacked. 2 But the troops in garrison could not venture 
beyond the protection of their ramparts. 

Col. Church made terrible havoc of all the settlements around. 
Many persons were killed ; and utter desolation took the place 

1 Collections of New Hampshire Historical Society, vol. i. p. 33-35; Hutchin- 
son's History of Massachusetts, vol. ii. p. 133. 

2 Universal History, vol. ad. p. 152. 



270 



THE II I STORY OF MAINE. 



of peaceful homes and smiling fields. Gov. Dudley, in his ad- 
dress to the legislature, proposing a vote of thanks as a reward 
for these services, said, " Col. Church has destroyed all the set- 
tlements in the vicinity of Port Royal, and taken a hundred 
prisoners and a large amount of plunder, with the loss of only 
six men." 

The whale-boats ran along the shores, destroying all the 
remoter settlements, killing, plundering, capturing, and burn- 
ing. The triumphant fleet returned to Boston, having been 
absent but about three months. " War," says Gen. Sherman, 
"is cruelty : you cannot refine it." This dreadful, woe-commis- 
sioned expedition accomplished the purpose for which it was 
intended. Terrible as was its infliction upon the Acadians, it 
averted from the humble homes of Maine a doom still more 
dreadful. By the English, captives were at least treated with 
ordinary humanity, and were never put to the torture. But 
what imagination can gauge the misery of a Christian family, 
consisting of father, mother, and little children, dragged by 
brutal savages through the wilderness for hundreds of miles, 
and doomed, perhaps, to see a husband, a father, or a son tor- 
tured to death for a savage holiday ! 1 

The fort at Winter Harbor, not far from the mouth of Saco 
River, was placed in the best condition for defence during the 
winter cf 1705. At the same time Col. Hilton, who had 
accompanied Col. Church as major in his late expedition, was 
sent, with a force of two hundred and seventy men, to attack 
the Indian village and French missionary station at Norridge- 
wock. Twenty friendly Indians were included in this party ; 
and they all travelled, in dead of winter, through the wilderness, 
on snow-shoes. Each soldier took, in a pack upon his back, 
food for twenty days. Their fare must indeed have been frugal. 

Immediately upon the proclamation of war between France 

and England, the governor of Canada sent the tidings to Nor- 

ridgewock. A council was held ; and the Indians decided to 

become the allies of the French. The French missionaries 

must, of course, have had much influence in this decision. 

There were about two hundred and fifty warriors who met there 

s 

1 Church's Fifth Expedition, p. 158. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



271 



in this council. The priest, as usual, appointed religious ser- 
vices, that the hearts of the savages might he inspired by the 
sanctions of religion. 1 

The Indians were not often taken by surprise. Their scouts 
kept vigilant watch. When the little army reached Norridge- 
wock, after their long and painful tramp, there was no one 
there : all had fled. A large chapel, with a vestry, was standing, 
and a cluster of very comfortable Indian wigwams. These the 
soldiers laid in ashes. Being much disappointed in not finding 
either captives, food, or plunder, they commenced their march 
home through drifting snows and wintry gales. 

In war, blows must be received as well as given. Gov. Suber- 
case of Nova Scotia gathered an army of five hundred and 
fifty French and Indians ; the savages being led by the noted 
Assacombuit. He made terrible havoc among all the English 
settlements within his reach. An uncounted number were 
slain ; a hundred and forty were taken prisoners ; and a large 
amount of plunder was seized. He exacted conflagration for 
conflagration, prisoner for prisoner, blood for blood. At length 
the prisoners had so accumulated on both sides as to be quite a 
burden. Gov. Vaudreuil of Canada sent one of his captives, 
Capt. Hill, to negotiate an exchange. Many of the friends of 
the lost did not know whether they had been killed, or had 
been made prisoners. William Dudley, a son of the governor, 
was sent to Canada with seventy prisoners, to receive an equal 
number in return. He could however, obtain but sixty. Mr. 
Williamson writes, — 

" Guilty of detestable hypocrisy, "Vaudreuil pretended that the Indians 
were an independent and freeborn people, and that he had no right or power 
to demand then* captives ; whereas they were in fact well known to be 
entire dupes and vassals to his will." 2 

In point of fact, the statement of the French governor was 
undoubtedly true. The Indian chiefs regarded the captives, 
whom their own war-parties had taken, as exclusively their 
own, and entirely beyond any control of the French. They 

1 History of Norridgewock, by William Allen, p. 34. 

2 "Williamson, vol. ii. p. 50. 



272 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



kept them to exchange' for their own captive warriors. The 
French could obtain possession of these victims only by paying 
for them a high ransom. 

Young Dudley protracted his discussions as long as possible, 
under various pretexts. While the negotiations were under 
consideration, there was a virtual truce. He thus, in some 
degree, prevented the excursions of hostile war-parties upon the 
English frontiers. 

It is mournful to contemplate how little confidence, at times, 
man can repose in his fellow-man. Capt. William Rowse was 
twice sent in a vessel, with a flag of truce and twenty-four 
prisoners, to Nova Scotia, to effect an exchange of captives. 
He was accused of treacherously being an accomplice with two 
merchants of Boston, and Samuel Vetch, subsequently the Eng- 
lish governor of Nova Scotia, in carrying arms, ammunition, and 
other military supplies, to the enemy. Thus the love of gain in- 
fluenced them to take advantage of the flag of truce, with which 
they had been intrusted by their own government, to supply 
the Indians with the means of ravaging, with conflagration and 
slaughter, the settlements of the English. They were thrown 
into prison, and condemned by the legislature. The neglect of 
the queen to give her signature to the verdict averted their 
doom. 

More deplorable still, Gov. Dudley himself was suspected of 
being engaged in this nefarious traffic. Though not proved 
guilty, and perhaps he was entirely innocent, still the imputa- 
tion rested upon him. Gov. Dudley was aristocratic in his 
tastes, and was by no means a cordial advocate of a republican 
form of government. He was consequently unpopular; and 
several of the measures which he urged upon the legislature 
were frowned down. * 

During the summer of 1Y05, French privateers and English 
cruisers were continually running up and down the coasts of 
Maine. The French succeeded in capturing seven of the Eng- 
lish vessels. It will be remembered that the garrison at Port 
Royal had driven off their English assailants. And, though the 
English ravaged all the region around, the banners of the French 
still floated from the ramparts of the strong fort. Small war- 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



273 



bands of savages, sometimes united with a few French, con- 
tinued to prowl about, killing, capturing, and burning, as they 
could find opportunity. 

In Kittery, five were killed, and a number of captives were 
taken. Among these was Mrs. Holt, an accomplished lady of 
high connections. For such a person to be a prisoner in the 
hands of brutal savages must be awful beyond conception. 
There were several cases of the utter ruin of families in assas- 
sination and capture. A band of eighteen Indians, rushing from 
the forest near York, seized four little children belonging to the 
family of Mr. Stover. One, being too young to travel, they 
knocked in the head. As one of their own warriors had been 
shot in their retreat with the children, these demoniac men took 
vengeance by putting a little boy to death with awful tortures. 

On the 29th of April, a party sprang from ambush, at Kit- 
tery, and seized Mr. Shapley and his son. The wretches, to 
gratify their love of cruelty, gnawed off the first joint of each 
finger and thumb of the unhappy young man, and stopped the 
bleeding by inserting the mangled stumps into the bowl of 
tobacco-pipes, heated red hot. This seems to have been one of 
their favorite modes of torture. Much havoc was perpetrated 
this year, in the unprotected settlements of Massachusetts and 
New Hampshire. 

The war had continued three years ; and the Indians, ever 
fickle, never persistent, began to grow weary of it. Terrible as 
had been the suffering they had caused, they had reaped but 
little benefit for themselves. The French, in Canada, proposed 
neutrality. While the courts of France and England continued 
to carry on the war, they proposed that the French and English 
colonies, struggling against the hardships of the wilderness in 
this new world, should stand aloof from the conflict. 1 

From this peace-offer,* Gov. Dudley, we. must think very un- 
wisely, dissented. He thought and said that the only way to 
secure a permanent peace was to drive the French entirely out 
of Acadia, and to take possession of the whole country in the 
name of the Queen of England. 2 

1 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 53. 

2 Histoire de la Houvelle France, par Charlevoix, vol. ii. p. 313. 



274 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Thus the dreary year of 1706 passed away, with continued 
burnings, assassinations, and captures. In January, 1707, Col. 
Hilton was sent in a vessel to Casco, with supplies for the garri- 
son there. There were two hundred and twenty men stationed 
at that point, with orders to range the country as they could, in 
pursuit of Indians. This was necessary but inglorious warfare. 
One day a party struck upon an Indian trail, which they fol- 
lowed until they came upon a wigwam, where there were four 
Indian men, with a middle-aged woman and a babe. They shot 
the men, and took the woman and child captives. They then 
compelled the woman, by threats of death, to conduct them to a 
spot where eighteen of her companions were encamped. They 
were all asleep, unsuspicious of danger. It was just before the 
dawn of the morning. A well-aimed volley of bullets instantly 
killed all but one, and he was captured. 

This event caused great rejoicing. The Indians were so wary, 
that it was with the utmost difficulty that any of them were 
caught. In the spring of 1707 another naval expedition, of 
more than a thousand men, was fitted out against Port Royal. 
Col. March was placed in command. Numerous transports and 
w T hale-boats were convoyed b} r a well-armed vessel of war. 1 

But to attack a scientifically-constructed French fort, defended 
by veteran French soldiers, with formidable cannon frowning 
through the portholes, was a very different undertaking from 
that of burning the cabins of poor settlers, and shooting Indians, 
either asleep in their encampments, or running in terror before 
their foes. A thousand men were disembarked. The inhabit- 
ants around all fled into the fort for protection. A council of 
war decided that the fort was too strong to be taken by the 
raw troops encamped before it. 

The troops were re-embarked in haste, and returned to several 
of the English garrisons along the coast. The chagrin of Gov. 
Dudley manifested itself in undignified violence of speech. He 
denounced March as unfit for command, and declared, that, if 
another vessel of the squadron should return to Boston, he 
would put to death every man who should step on shore. 

1 " He (Got. Dudley) was exceedingly anxious to see Port Royal reduced, as 
such an event would complete the entire conquest of Nova Scotia, and convert it 
into an English province." — Williamson, vol. ii. p. 53. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



275 



Another armament was speedily organized. Gov. Dudley 
was encouraged, in this operation, by the promise that England 
would send an efficient fleet to co-operate with him in the com- 
plete conquest both of Nova Scotia and Canada. Col. March 
was so popular, notwithstanding the tirades which had been 
launched against him, that the governor did not venture to 
supersede him. He, however, appointed three members of his 
council to be the colonel's associates in command. 

These troops relanded before the fort at Port Royal, on the 
10th of August, 1707. In the meantime, the French had been 
strengthening their works, and increasing their numbers. Sick- 
ness had invaded the little army of Col. March. Even inexpe- 
rienced soldiers could see that the works presented an impreg- 
nable front against any force they could bring against it. All 
were alike disheartened. In ten days, having accomplished 
nothing, the troops returned to their vessels, and sailed back to 
Casco, Boston, and other English ports. 

The French took advantage of this signal defeat to rouse the 
Indians to new endeavors to drive the invading English from their 
hunting-grounds. There were now but six English settlements 
surviving in Maine, — those of Kittery, Berwick, York, Wells, 
Casco, and Winter Harbor. Towards all of these the Indians 
marched in wolfish bands. They fell upon a house in Kittery, 
and massacred all the inmates. Four men, with a lady, Mrs. 
Littlefield, were caught on the road between York and Wells. 
They were probably hastening to some garrison-house. Mrs. 
Littlefield had two hundred dollars in money with her. A 
volley from savages in ambush shot them all down but one man. 
He escaped. The dead were scalped and plundered, and left 
in their blood. 

The Indians in their canoes lurked around all the spots to 
which fishing-vessels were likely to resort. These vessels had 
usually two or three men and a boy on board. Half a dozen 
canoes, filled with armed savages, and darting out like arrows 
from the land, easily captured them. 

On the 21st of September, 1707, a hundred and fifty Indians 
made an attack upon Winter Harbor. They came in a fleet of 
fifty canoes, three warriors in each canoe. Two shallops were 



276 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



in the harbor, manned by eight very determined men. They 
knew that the vessels would be first attacked. Unintimidated 
by the fearful odds of one hundred and fifty to eight, they 
made preparations for a desperate defence. Concealing them- 
selves behind bulwarks of plank, they made every gun ready for 
rapid discharges. The fleet came swarming on, while the 
savages rent the air with their hideous yells. 

The English waited till the canoes were so near, that every 
bullet was sure to strike its target. All then fired at once. A 
few canoes were disabled, and their inmates thrown into tem- 
porary confusion ; but the rest pressed undaunted on. They 
would soon surround the small vessels, and in resistless num- 
bers be leaping over their sides. The English abandoned one, 
and, entering the other, cut the cables, spread a sail, and en- 
deavored to put out to sea. The Indians seized the forsaken 
shallop, and, raising her mainsail, commenced the pursuit. 

A slight breeze caused both vessels to move, though they 
crept along slowly. The English had taken the best vessel ; 
and the Indians were unskilled mariners. When the savages 
saw that they were falling astern, they placed a dozen canoes 
ahead to tow their vessel along, with fishing-cords for tow-lines. 
The English, also, got out oars. The pursuers and the pursued 
were often so near each other, that the Indians endeavored to 
grapple the blades of the oars of the English. A perpetual 
firing of musketry was kept up. Both parties were ingenious 
in devices to avoid exposure to the bullet. This singular en- 
gagement was continued for three hours. The Indians lost, in 
killed and wounded, about thirty. Only one man, Benjamin 
Daniel, was killed on board the vessel. His last words were, 
" I am a dead man ; but give me a gun to kill one more before 
I go." The loaded gun was placed in his hand, but he had no 
strength to fire it. 

The people around, warned of the approach of the Indians by 
a cannon fired at the fort, hurried to the garrison. The savages, 
disheartened by their losses, did not venture an attack. 1 

Soon after this, two men at Berwick, returning from public 

1 "Williamson's History of Maine, vol. i. p. 55; Bourne's History of "Wells and 
Kennebunk, p. 2G6. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



277 



worship, were shot down by the Indians. The neighbors pur- 
sued and overtook them, and, by an unexpected fire, threw 
them into such consternation, that they dropped their packs, 
and fled. Some plunder was regained, and three scalps. 

This was a year of great suffering throughout Maine. The 
inhabitants, often with a very small supply of food, were very 
inconveniently crowded into narrow garrison-houses. No man 
could pass a few rods from the door of the garrison, without 
danger of being shot down. Not a rod of land could be safely 
tilled beyond reach of the sentry-box. As to lumbering and 
fishing, those pursuits had to be entirely abandoned. Thus 
passed the fifth summer of this desolating war, in which man's 
inhumanity inflicted untold misery upon his fellows. 

The next year, 1708, was, in Maine, a season of general 
paralysis. No industrial pursuits could be undertaken. The 
settlers kept carefully huddled together in the garrisons. Scouts 
and spy-boats were continually vigilant. The French made an 
effort to unite all the northern tribes to exterminate the English ; 
but various obstacles thwarted their plans. Gov. Dudley also 
endeavored to organize another expedition against Port Royal ; 
but it proved an entire failure. 1 

In February of 1709, Gov. Dudley sent a scout of one hun- 
dred and fifty men to visit all the old settlements of the Indians, 
and see that they were laid utterly desolate. He said that it 
was his object to teach the Indians that the French, whom they 
had so zealously served, were unable to protect them from the 
punishment they so richly merited, from the avenging hands of 
the English. " We shall never," the governor added, " be long 
at rest, until Canada and Nova Scotia constitute a part of the 
British empire." 

In the summer of this year, the Indians of the Kennebec sent 
a flag of truce to Boston to sue for peace. But it is quite evi- 
dent that the English were not in favor of peace with France, 
until, at least, Nova Scotia should be wrested from the French 
crown. The sufferings of a few hundred poor emigrants in 
Maine they deemed too trivial to be thought of in these great 
national issues. 

1 Massachusetts Records, vol. vii. p. 426. 



278 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



In 1710 a new effort was made for the conquest of Port 
Royal, in which the British Government took an active j:>art. A 
fleet of thirty-six sail, warships and transports, conveyed a for- 
midable armament and twelve hundred men to the Bay of 
Annapolis. The troops were landed safely on the 24th of 
September, excepting one transport, containing twenty-six men, 
which was wrecked, and all were drowned. 

The French governor, Subercase, had but two hundred and 
sixty men in garrison. The assailing batteries were soon raised, 
and a heavy cannonading commenced. The next day Subercase 
found himself compelled to capitulate. The fortress and all its 
stores were surrendered to the crown of England. All the 
inhabitants within a league of the fort, four hundred and eighty- 
one in number, were to be protected, upon condition of their 
taking the oath of allegiance to the British Government. The 
soldiers taken in the garrison were to be sent to France, or to 
be permitted to remove to Canada. 1 

In honor of Queen Anne, the name of the place was changed 
from Port Royal to Annapolis Royal. Thus Nova Scotia 
passed into the hands of the English. Col. Samuel Vetch was 
appointed governor of the conquered Province ; and a garrison 
of four hundred and fifty men was left under his command. 

Major Levingston and young Castine were sent as English 
commissioners to Gov. Vaudreuil, in Canada, to inform him that 
Acadia, as they termed it, had fallen into the hands of the 
English ; that, consequently, all the French inhabitants of that 
region, excepting those who had taken the oath of allegiance, 
were prisoners-of-war ; and that any barbarities practised by 
savages under the control of the French would be followed by 
severe reprisals upon the French inhabitants of Nova Scotia. 

It was nearly midwinter when the commissioners set out on 
their arduous journey through the wilderness, to Quebec. 
They crossed the Bay of Fundy to the Penobscot, and remained 
several days at Castine's beautiful residence at Biguyduce (Cas- 
tine). Here Mr. Levingston received from the attractive family 
of his host the most hospitable and warm-hearted attentions. 

1 Penhallow's Indian Wars ; Hutchinson's History, vol. ii. p. 167; Hallibur- 
ton's Nova Scotia, vol. i. p. 88. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



279 



On the 1st of November, they took a canoe, and, with three 
Indian guides, paddled up the Penobscot River. About eight 
miles above the present city of Bangor, they came to an island 
called Lett. Here, probably where the village of Oldtown now 
stands, they found a cluster of Indian wigwams, containing 
about one hundred inhabitants, with fifty canoes upturned upon 
the greensward. 

The Indians were not disposed to let them go any farther. 
They detained them for several days. Mr. Levingston would 
undoubtedly have lost his life, but for the interposition of Mr. 
Castine, whom the savages regarded as an adopted Indian, 
the child of the daughter of one of their most illustrious chiefs, 
and their friend. 

The journey was resumed on the 4th of November ; the com- 
missioners, with several Indian guides, still ascending the river 
in two canoes. On the second day Levingston's canoe was 
overset, an Indian guide was drowned ; and he lost his gun and 
all his personal effects. The ice was making fast. The other 
canoe soon became torn and leaky, so that it had to be aban- 
doned. 

For forty days these hardy men travelled through the wilder- 
ness on foot, guided by the compass alone. The weather was 
so stormy, or they were enveloped in such dense fogs, that, for 
nineteen days, they did not see the sun. They waded through 
snow, knee deep, crossed as they could unbridged and icy 
torrents, forced their Avay through swamps encumbered with 
almost impenetrable entanglements of spruces, cedars, and 
underbrush. A week before they reached any human habita- 
tions, they had consumed all their food. They then lived upon 
the rinds of trees, and such dried and withered berries as the 
wintry gales had not yet torn from the branches. 

They reached Quebec on the 16th of December, where they 
remained about two months, accomplishing but little. Indeed, 
their mission seemed to be one rather to utter threats than to 
propose terms of peace. The governor of Canada, in response 
to the menacing letter sent him by the English authorities, 
replied, — 



280 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



" Never have the French, and seldom have the Indians, treated their 
English captives with inhumanity. The French are, in no event, accounta- 
ble for the behavior of the Indians. A truce, and even a neutrality, might 
long ago have terminated all these miseries of war, had the English been 
willing to accept such neutrality. If the English adopt any retaliatory 
measures, they will be amply avenged by the French." 

The conquest of Nova Scotia settled many disputed questions 
as to boundaries. Though the ravages of war were slackened, 
there still was no confirmed peace. More than a year before, 
the sagamores had sent a flag of truce to Boston, supplicating 
peace. But the English, intent upon seizing Nova Scotia, and 
perhaps still hoping to gain Canada, were certainly not eager 
to accept the olive-branch : consequently, a desultory warfare 
was kept up ; marauding bands of savages inflicting occasional 
deeds of awful individual suffering, while nothing of victorious 
result was accomplished. In August a man and woman were 
shot in the vicinity of York, and two men were carried away 
captive. In Saco three persons were killed, and six captured. 
There were two cases of barbarity, which should be recorded. 
One was on the part of the Indians. They wantonly skinned 
one of the English, whom they had killed, and cut up his skin 
into belts. 

The other was on the part of the English. Col. Walton, 
with one hundred and seventy men on a reconnoitring tour, 
had reached Sagadahoc. By a decoy he seized a sagamore, 
with his wife, and several other Indians. Because the sagamore 
was not, as he thought, sufficiently communicative in betraying 
his friends, Col. Walton allowed the savages, who were of his 
own party, to amuse themselves in cutting him to pieces with 
their tomahawks. 

Soon after this, Walton captured, at one time three, and 
again five prisoners. It is not known whether he killed them, or 
carried them away as captives. On the other hand, the Indians, 
having captured a man by the name of Ayres, treated him 
kindly, and sent him, with a flag of truce, to Fort Mary, again 
soliciting that peace which had so long been denied them. 1 

While Nova Scotia was in the hands of the French, they 

1 Williamson, vol. ii. p. G2. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



281 



claimed possession as far west as the Kennebec, and actually- 
held the country as far as the Penobscot. This dispute, as to 
boundaries, being now settled, the English were intensely 
desirous of extending their conquest over the whole of Canada. 
In this design, the men in power were not to be thwarted by 
the moans ascending from a few log-cabins in the wilderness of 
Maine : consequently the appeals, both of the Canadian French 
and the Indians, for peace, were alike unheeded. 

Col. Nicholson, returning to Boston triumphant from the con- 
quest of Nova Scotia, repaired to England to solicit the efficient 
aid of the government for the new enterprise. He took with 
him five Mohawk sagamores. These plumed and painted war- 
riors, the bloodhounds of the human race, were allies of the 
English. They were ready to fight on any side which would 
pay them the highest wages. 

In England these barbaric chieftains, in their gorgeous ap- 
parel, attracted great attention. Immense crowds followed 
them whenever they appeared in the streets of London. The 
highest of the nobility called upon these their brother aristo- 
crats. -Queen Anne's husband, Prince George, had recently 
died ; and the court was in mourning. At the royal charge, the 
Indian chiefs were all richly elad in robes of black broadcloth, 
with scarlet cloaks ed^ed with gold fringe. 

o o o 

Thus prepared for presentation to royalty, they were con- 
ducted to the palace of St. James, in two regal coaches, with 
all the emblazonry of courtly splendor. The lord-chamberlain 
introduced them to her Majesty the queen. One of the saga- 
mores, addressing Anne, and speaking in behalf of his com- 
panions, said, — 

" Should you capture the Canada country, and put the French under your 
feet, it would give us great advantage in hunting and in war. Let your 
princely face shine upon us. We are your allies. We will never turn our 
backs. We will all stand firm. Nothing shall move us." 



CHAPTER XVI. 



BRITISH AND INDIAN DIPLOMACY. 

Enthusiasm of the British Government — The Fleet for the Conquest of Cana- 
da — Utter Failure of the Enterprise — Daily Perils — The Bridal Party — 
Treaty of Utrecht — The Ptavages of War — Character of the Younger Cas- 
tine — State of the Ministry — The Pe jepscot Purchase — Ancient Dominions 
— Rearing the Forts — The Council at Arrowsic — Gloomy Prospects — 
Character of Father Rasle. 

THE English Government, cheered by the conquest of Nova 
Scotia, and animated by the presence of the Mohawk 
chiefs, who, it was said, could bring a large number of warriors 
into the field, engaged with enthusiasm in fitting out an expedi- 
tion for the conquest of Canada. A fleet was speedily equipped, 
consisting of fifteen ships-of-war, forty- three transports, and six 
store-ships. Seven veteran regiments of the Duke of Marl- 
borough's army were placed on board, with a fine train of heavy 
artillery. Admiral Walker, an officer of established reputation, 
was intrusted with the command. When this powerful arma- 
ment arrived in Boston, six hundred and fifty provincial troops 
were added to the force. 

On the 30th of July, 1711, the fleet sailed from Boston for 
the capture of Quebec. But God seemed to frown upon the 
enterprise. In entering the mouth of the St. Lawrence, eight 
transports were wrecked, and a thousand men sank beneath the 
waves. It was an awful spectacle as viewed from the other 
vessels of the fleet. The loss was so terrible, both of men and 
the munitions of war, that the energies of officers and crew 
seemed alike paralyzed. Overwhelmed with disappointment 
and chagrin, they, with one accord, abandoned the enterprise. 
Returning to Boston, they were greeted only with condemna- 
tion and obloquy. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



283 



Expeditions were still sent out from the Massachusetts colo- 
nies, to cruise along the shores of Maine in pursuit of Indians ; 
but the savages were on their guard, and could not be found. 
Prowling bands of Indians succeeded in shooting a few of the 
English who had here and there ventured into the fields. Dur- 
ing the next summer (that of 1712), twenty-six of the English 
settlers were killed or captured in the vicinity of York, Kittery, 
and Wells. The settlers were completely disheartened. They 
could not move without danger of assassination. A child could 
not play upon a doorsill without being exposed to seizure by 
some burly savage, and dragged screaming, before the eyes of 
its agonized parents, into the forest. The Indians became 
increasingly bold in these petty acts of warfare. 

Still England, intent upon the conquest of Canada, did not wish 
for peace. And, while there was war between France and Eng- 
land, it could not but be that the savages would be enlisted on 
the one side or the other. The Indians, though invisible, seemed 
to be everywhere. Not a movement escaped their notice. A 
scouting-party was marching from the garrison at York towards 
Cape Neddock. It was on -the 14th of May, 1712. Suddenly, 
from the silent wilderness, a band of thirty savages sprang up, 
and poured in upon them a deadly fire. One, the leader, Ser- 
geant Nalton, was instantly killed : seven others, probably 
struck down and crippled by wounds, were captured. The 
survivors fled precipitately, and, with the utmost difficulty, suc- 
ceeded in regaining the fort. Mr. Pickernel, at Spruce Creek, 
alarmed by the rumor of the vicinity of the Indians, was leaving 
his door, with his family, to take refuge in the garrison, when a 
bullet from a concealed savage struck him dead. His wife was 
also wounded, and his little child scalped. The poor child, left 
for dead, recovered from the dreadful wound. There were 
several similar individual acts of suffering and death. 

A very exciting event took place at Wells, on the 16th of 
September. There was a large bridal party held at the garri- 
son. Elisha Plaisted, a young man of Portsmouth, was to be 
married to Hannah Wheelwright, a beautiful girl of eighteen, 
a daughter of one of the first families. The family connection 
was large, and the acquaintance extensive. Prominent guests 



284 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



were invited from Portsmouth and other adjacent settlements. 
Some came by water ; others, in well-armed bands, on horseback. 
Plaisted was accompanied by quite an escort of his young 
friends from Portsmouth. 

A band of nearly two hundred Indians came uninvited to the 
wedding. Threading their way in the dark, with the stealthy 
tread of the tiger, through the obscurities of the forest, they 
placed themselves in ambush to cut off all the divisions of the 
bridal party, by whatever paths they might set out on their 
return to their homes. It was evident that they were not only 
perfectly familiar with all the region, but that, in some way, 
they had gained an acquaintance with the number of the guests, 
and with the general arrangements for the occasion. 

The nuptials were celebrated ; and in feasting and frolic the 
hour of midnight had passed, and it is probable that the morn- 
ing had dawned. Some of the friends were preparing to leave, 
when it was found that two of the horses were missing. Three 
young men — Joshua Downing, Isaac Cole, and Sergeant Tucker 
— went out to find them, apparently without any thought of 
Indians. They had not proceeded far, when, from the perfect 
silence and solitude of the forest, a volley of musketry assailed 
them. Two fell dead. Tucker, severely wounded, was cap- 
tured by the ambushed savages. 

The report of the guns instantlv conveyed the terrible tidings 
to the garrison. The most able and the bravest men of the 
region were there, and nearly all with military titles. Totally 
unaware of the number of their foes, with singular imprudence, 
but with chivalric braver}^, they rushed out to grapple with 
them. They sprang upon their horses, and, in small bands, rode 
in different directions to cut off the retreat of the Indians. 

But the wily savages had placed themselves in ambush on 
each of these paths, and were quietly awaiting the approach of 
their victims. The bridegroom, a very heroic young man, led 
one of these parties of seven or eight men on horseback. Soon 
they fell into an ambush. At one discharge, every horse was 
shot down ; one man was killed ; and young Plaisted, in his 
bridal attire, was seizid by the savages leaping from their con- 
cealment : the others, in the darkness, escaped. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



285 



The savages seemed to understand perfectly the enterprise in 
which they were engaged. Plaisted was, in their view, the son 
of a rich father. They wished, if possible, to capture him, that 
they might extort a heavy ransom. It was this desire which 
probably led them to shoot down the horses, instead of the men. 
In their great eagerness to secure him, the others were allowed 
to escape. 

The Indians, having accomplished their purpose, rapidly fled. 
A party of seventy soldiers was immediately mustered to pursue 
them. They came up with the foe in a forest, where every 
Indian could take his station behind a tree. The English soon 
found that they were outnumbered by the Indians more than 
two to one. After a brief skirmish, in which one only was 
killed on each side, the English ceased firing, and sent forward 
Lieut. Banks, with a flag of truce, to ascertain on what terms 
young Plaisted could be ransomed. Six Indian chiefs met the 
flag. Among them was the noted Bomaseen, of whom we have 
before spoken. 1 

The chiefs were not prepared to make an immediate arrange- 
ment. They wished for more time to consider the matter. 
They promised to bring their captives, in five days, to Richman's 
Island, where they would be ready to settle the question. Not- 
withstanding the large force at the Indians' disposal, they at- 
tempted no further raids, but immediately retired. Plaisted 
was finally redeemed ; his father being compelled to pay a ran- 
som estimated in value at three hundred pounds, equivalent to 
about fifteen hundred dollars. 2 

On the 30th of March, 1713, the celebrated Treaty of Utrecht 
was signed. There was now peace between France and Eng- 
land. Nova Scotia, the ancient Acadia, was formally surren- 
dered to the English. Thus this dreadful and wicked war was 
ended. The Indians had long desired peace. Great was their 

1 It will be remembered that Bomaseen was one of the Norridgewock sachems. 
Upon visiting Peinaquid with a flag of truce, he had been treacherously seized by 
the English, and carried a captive to Boston. The savage could uoav have easily 
retaliated ; but he did not. 

2 Collections of Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. hi. p. 140; see, also, the 
account of this affair as given by Williamson, vol. ii. p. OG, and also by Bourne, in 
his History of Kennebunk and Wells, p. 260. 



286 



THE II I STORY OF MAINE. 



joy. Promptly they sent envoys to Casco to establish friendly 
relations. The English were haughty, and domineering in their 
exactions. They demanded of the Indians a humiliating con- 
fession of their offences, compelled them to take the oath of 
allegiance to the British crown, to promise to sign whatever 
articles the governor and council might dictate, to give hostages 
for the faithful performance of these stipulations, and to main- 
tain these hostages at their own expense. 

For the ratification of these severe terms, a council was held 
at Portsmouth on the 11th of July. Eight sagamores from the 
Rivers St. John, Penobscot, and Kennebec, met the governor 
with twenty councillors and a large number of attendant gen- 
tlemen. The Indians were crushed in spirit, and pliant to the 
will of their conquerors. 1 

The war had lasted ten years. During that time, more than 
a fourth part of the inhabitants of Maine had been either killed 
or captured. Hutchinson, in his History of Massachusetts, 
estimates, that, in the thirty-eight years between 1G75 and 1713, 
six thousand of the } T outh of New England had perished from 
the casualties of war. 2 Many families had become extinct. 
Nearly all mourned some members lost. In Maine, the desola- 
tion was awful. The log-cabins were crumbling to decay. The 
fields, long uncultivated, presented a revolting aspect of briers 
and thorns, and all wild shrubs. 

The fur-trade had become entirely extinct. Lumbering and 
fishing were at an end. Maine was in a state of impoverish- 
ment scarcely conceivable. Fathers and sons, mothers and 
daughters, who had been captured, were far away in the wilds 
of Canada ; and no one knew whether they were living or dead. 
There were no facilities for travelling, in those days, or for com- 
municating intelligence. Nearly a year passed before a ship 
was sent to Quebec to bring home the captives ; and then they 
were found so widely dispersed, that it required four months to 
collect them. Many were lost, and never were heard from. 

During this ten-years' war, it is estimated that one-third of 

1 The articles of this treaty are given entire in the Collections of the New 
Hampshire Historical Society, vol. i. pp. 82-86. 

2 Hutchinson's History, vol ii. p. 183. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



287 



the Indian warriors of Maine perished, and probably as many 
more of their women and children, from the bullet, exposure, 
and starvation. Several tribes had become so enfeebled as to 
have lost their individual character. The terms of the treaty 
which the English exacted were so abasing, that the Indians 
never would have accepted them, had they not been compelled 
to do so by poverty, suffering, and helplessness. 

Castine the Younger, the son of Baron Castine, and whose 
mother was the honored daughter of one of the most illustrious 
and powerful of the sagamores, was, by universal admission, a 
very extraordinary man. The blood of two lines of nobles 
flowed through his veins. From his father, he inherited the 
courteous manners of the French noblesse ; and he became a 
man of intelligence and culture. From his excellent mother, he 
inherited sympathy for her race, and was ever heroically dis- 
posed to cast in his lot with that much injured people. His 
intelligence taught him that the Indians were gaining nothing, 
and losing every thing, by the wars ; and he was the most zeal- 
ous of all the chieftains in urging peace. Mr. Williamson paj^s 
the following well-merited and beautiful tribute to the memory 
of this excellent man : — 

u He appeared to be entirely free from the bigoted malevolence of the 
French, and the barbarous, revengeful spirit of the savages. He was a chief 
sagamore of the Tarratine tribe; and he also held a commission from the 
French king. By his sweetness of temper, magnanimity, and other valua- 
ble properties, he was held in high estimation by both people. Nor were 
the English insensible of his uncommon merit. He had an elegant French 
uniform which he sometimes wore; yet, on all occasions, he preferred to 
appear in the habit of his tribe. It was in him both policy and pleasure to 
promote peace with the English. And, in several instances where they had 
treated him with abuse, he gave proofs of forbearance worthy of a philoso- 
pher's or Christian's imitation." 1 

The perfect confidence which the English reposed in his 
honor was manifested in their trusting him, as a friend and 
companion, to conduct Major Levingston through the wilder- 
ness from Port Royal to Quebec. 

1 "Williamson, vol. ii. p. 70. For further particulars of this remarkable man, 
see Universal History, vol. xl. p. 180. 



288 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



A new era of peace and prosperity, it was hoped, was now 
about to dawn upon Maine. A stable government began slowly 
to be organized. Institutions for education and religion began 
to arise. Earnest endeavors were made to promote purity of 
morals. 

For thirty-eight years, the inhabitants of Maine had been 
engaged in an almost incessant conflict with the Indians. But 
for the wickedness of man, these might have been happy years, 
in which beautiful villages would have been reared, and gardens 
would have bloomed, and parents and children would have lived 
happily together, with ever-increasing prosperity. But they 
were years of general impoverishment and woe. The war had 
suspended all the meetings of the Superior Court of Maine. In 
answer to petitions from Maine, the General Court of Massa- 
chusetts, on the 5th of June, 1711, ordered the Superior Court 
to hold an annual session at Kittery. 

On the 9th of June, 1713, the town of Berwick was incor- 
porated. This was the ninth town in the State. The other 
towns were Kittery, York, Wells, Cape Porpoise, Saco, Scar- 
borough, Falmouth, and North Yarmouth. The village rapidly 
increased ; for the soil was good, and the original settlers highly 
respectable. It speaks well for this people, that, as early as 
1702, a church was organized there. John Wade was its first 
pastor. He was succeeded by Rev. Jeremiah Wise, a man 
eminent for his scholarship and his piety. For forty-eight years 
the community was blessed with his ministrations. 

Kittery was divided into two parishes. The new one was 
called Eliot. Rev. John Rogers was settled here in 1715. The 
stable character of the people may be inferred from the fact 
that he continued to fill the pulpit for fifty-eight years. In the 
old parish at Kittery, the people, as early as 1669, built a par- 
sonage, and supported a faithful pastor for fifteen years. In 
the year 1714, there was a church there of forty-three members. 
Rev. John Newmarch, a scholarly man, and a graduate from 
Harvard University, was the faithful preacher to an affectionate 
people for thirty-five years. In York, Rev. Samuel Moody 
ministered, with untiring fidelity, for forty-seven years. He 
was a man of many eccentricities, but highly esteemed for his 
accomplished scholarship and his many virtues. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



239 



The eastern provinces of the State presented, at the close of 
the war, truly a melancholy aspect. More than a hundred miles 
of coast, along which had been scattered the comfortable dwell- 
ings of the settlers with their cultivated fields, were laid utterly 
desolate. Not a dwelling remained. Title-deeds and records 
were all lost. In re-settling the region, it was deemed expedi- 
ent that the people should gather in small villages t of twenty or 
thirty families, with home lots of but four or five acres. For 
the sake of the fisheries, these little settlements were generally 
on the seacoast. 

Emigrants began slowly to return to the demolished towns of 
Saco, Scarborough, Falmouth, and North Yarmouth. In the 
year 1714 there were about twenty families in Falmouth ; and 
these families, notwithstanding their great impoverishment, at 
once commenced building a meeting-house. North Yarmouth 
was one of the last of the dilapidated towns which was re-settled. 

Upon the death of Richard Wharton, the proprietor of the 
Pejepscot purchase, the whole immense territory included in 
that purchase was sold to a company for one hundred pounds; 
The boundary line, it will be remembered, as then understood, 
ran from five miles above the Upper Falls, 1 in a north-east direc- 
tion, to the Kennebec River. Four miles west of the falls, it 
took a strip of land, four miles wide, to Maquoit Bay ; and 
thence down the Kennebec, and through Merrymeeting Bay, to 
the mouth of the Sagadahoc. Such, in general, were the boun- 
daries of this purchase. 

The proprietors laid out three townships ; those of Bruns- 
wick, Topsham, and Harps well. The two first were six miles 
square ; one on the north or east side of the river, the other 
on the southern side. The third town, Harpswell, included a 
peninsula running down into the bay, and two islands. Fort 
George was built near the falls at Brunswick. Settlers came very 
slowly to these towns. In the year 1718 there was not a single 
dwelling in Brunswick excepting the fort at the falls, and a 

1 "At Lewiston, twenty miles above Brunswick, the cataract is called the 
Upper Falls of Pejepscot, where the water tumbles over massy rocks, and rushes 
through narrow passes about one hundred feet perpendicular from the surface 
above to the bed below." — Williamson' s History of Maine, vol. ip. 45. 
19 



290 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



block-house at Maquoit Bay. Three families had settled in 
Topsham. It was not until about 1720 that any families en- 
tered Harpswell. 1 

Gradually families began to return to the utter desolation 
which reigned at the mouth of the Sagadahoc. A Boston gen- 
tleman erected at Arrowsic Island 2 a large brick dwelling, 
which remained there for more .than half a century. In the 
year 1715 there were twenty-six residents on the island. In 
answer to a petition from the inhabitants, it was incorporated, 
together with Parker's Island, 3 in the year 1716, by the name 
of Georgetown. Fifteen new settlers immediately repaired to 
the place; and the governor of Massachusetts sent a sergeant's 
guard of twenty men to protect the inhabitants for six months. 

This was then the most remote settlement on our eastern 
frontier. The Sagadahoc plantations have been appropriately 
called the " Ancient Dominions " of Maine. In the early his- 
tory of the State, this region had more celebrity than any other, 
with perhaps the exception of York and Falmouth. Here a 
colony was established as early as 1G07, thirteen years before 
the commencement of the Plymouth Colony. In 1623, but 
three years after the landing of the Pilgrims, there were eighty- 
four families residing in this region; and quite a fleet of fisher- 
men annually visited those waters. 

There were two patents, which embraced all the land in this 
vicinity. The one was the Pejepscot, to which we have just 
referred. The other was called the Plymouth or Kennebec 
patent. The proprietors of each of these territories offered 
such families as would remove there, one hundred acres of good 
land, and promised to pay the expenses of their removal. As 
an additional inducement they offered to contribute liberally 

1 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 89. See also Collections of Massachusetts Historical 
Society, p. 141. 

2 Arrowsic Island is about five miles long with a mean breadth, of about one 
mile. It contains, according to Williamson, four thousand acres of land. Coolidge 
and Mansfield say twenty thousand acres. There is much marsh land and many 
ledges, which in the estimate of acres, perhaps the one writer discards and the 
others reckon. — Williamson, vol. i. p. 53 ; Coolidge and Mansfield, p. 34. 

3 "Parker's Island li^s north-easterly of Arrowsic, and is separated from it by 
Back River. It is nine miles long, and on an average a mile and a half in width, 
containing about ten thousand acres." — Williamson, voL i. p. 53. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



291 



towards the support of a minister of the gospel. Soon a strong 
stone fort was built at Augusta, then called Cushnoc or Cush- 
enoc. It was the strongest fortress in the eastern country, and 
was for some time maintained at the public expense. In refer- 
ence to the encouragement given to emigrants, Penhallow 
writes, "Several towns, as of Brunswick, Topsham, Georgetown, 
and Cushenoc began to be settled. A great many fine build- 
ings, with saw-mills, were erected. Husbandry began to thrive, 
and great stocks of cattle were raised." 1 

The sturgeon-fishery was then deemed a very important 
branch of industry. In some seasons more than twenty vessels 
were engaged in this employment. All sorts of timber were 
also sent to Boston, and even to foreign ports. During the 
winter of 1716, the fort of Pemaquid was repaired, and a garri- 
son was established there. The Indians were alarmed in view 
of the strong forts which the English were raising at important 
points. Again there were rumors of another war between 
France and England. It is said that the French endeavored to 
fan the flames of Indian jealousy, by pointing to the encroach- 
ments of the English, as evidence that the English claimed all 
their lands, and intended to take possession of the whole coun- 
try. The Catholic missionaries, by identifying themselves with 
the Indians, and becoming incorporated into their tribes, had 
obtained a wonderful ascendancy over them. The Indians had 
ceased to regard them as foreigners, and looked upon them as 
the wisest and best of their own people. 

The English authorities had tried in vain to drive the 
French missionaries from Norridgewock. They now decided to 
make the endeavor to supplant their influence by establishing 
English missions among the tribes. 2 By previous appointment 
the governor and his council met a large number of the Indian 
chiefs at Arrowsic. It was in August, 1717. The governor 
was a haughty man, and was not inclined to b~e conciliatory in 
speech or manner. He presented the sachems with the Bible, 3 

1 Penhallow' s Indian Wars was printed in the year 1726. 

2 The General Court offered to pay any minister one hundred and fifty pounds 
annually who would reside at Fort George^ Pemaqtrid,), learn the dialect of the 
tribe, and become their instructor. — Williamson, vol. ii. p. 92. 

3 In the year 1G83, the second edition of the Indian Bible, by Mr. Eliot, was 
completed. — Drake's Book of the Indians, book ii. p. 57. 



292 



THE n I STORY OF MAINE. 



in the Indian language, and said to them, " This book contains 
the true religion. Mr. Baxter, who has accompanied us, will 
remain with you, and teach you its principles." 

One of the sagamores promptly replied, " All people have 
their own religious teachers. Your Bible we do not care to 
keep. God has given us teachers. Should we abandon them, 
we should offend God." 1 

The chiefs then turned to the political questions which were 
creating trouble ; and, in the conference which ensued, they 
showed themselves to be men of remarkable strength of mind, 
and good common-sense. Their principal speaker said, " We 
admit that the land west of the Kennebec River, the English 
have a claim to regard as theirs ; but certainly no sale has ever 
been made to them, of the country east of that river." 

The governor, with dogmatism and discourtesy which those 
dignified chieftains keenly felt, instead of arguing the point 
at all, exclaimed, " You may be assured that we will never part 
with one inch of our lands in that quarter." 

There was for a moment silence ; and then these chieftains 
simultaneously rose, and, without uttering a word, left the 
council, repaired to their canoes, and paddled to another island. 

1 According to the account given in the "Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses 
ecrites des Missions Etrangeres," one of the chiefs gave the folio-wing answer to 
the proposition that they should dismiss their missionary, and take an English- 
man in his stead : — 

"You astonish me by the proposition you make. When you first came here 
you saw me a long time before I saw the French; but neither you nor your min- 
isters spoke to me of prayer, or of the Great Spirit. They saw my furs, my skins 
of beaver and elk. Of these only they thought. These they sought with the 
greatest eagerness. I was not able to furnish them enough. When I carried them 
a large quantity, I was their great friend, but no farther. 

" One day, my canoe having missed its route, I lost my way. After wan- 
dering a long time I landed near Quebec. Scarcely had I arrived when one of 
the Black Eobes came to see me. I was loaded with furs ; but the French Black 
Kobe scarcely deigned to look at them. He spoke to me at once of the Great 
Spirit, of heaven, of hell, and of prayer which is the only way to reach heaven. 

" I heard him with pleasure, and remained a long time in the village to listen 
to him, I demanded baptism, and received it. At last I returned to my country, 
and related what had happened to me. My friends envied my happiness, and 
wished to participate. They departed to find the Black Robe, and demand of him 
baptism. It is thus that the French have acte*d towards me. Thus I tell you that 
1 hold to the prayer of the French. I shall be faithful to it until the world is 
burned up." 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



293 



They had brought with them to the council an English flag, as 
indicative that they were the friends and allies of the English. 
This flag they left behind them, the silent token of their dis- 
pleasure. 

The English claimed the land belonging to the Indians, east- 
ward of the Kennebec River, on the ground that the king of 
France had ceded those lands to them by the Treaty of Utrecht. 
The sagamores, as usual, appealed to their revered friend and 
advocate, Father Rasle, for advice. 1 He immediately wrote to 
the governor of Massachusetts, that the king of France had 
never conceded to the English, lands which belonged to the 
Indians. He had merely withdrawn the French flag from those 
lands where he had been the protector of the Indians, and had 
surrendered to the English the right of purchasing and coloniz- 
ing their lands. And the king of France, he said, would feel 
■ bound to protect those Indians, should the king of England 
assume that France had given England authority to seize upon 
their territory. 

Armed with this letter, the sagamores, probably on the even- 
ing of the next day, returned to Arrowsic. 2 The conference 
was renewed. The governor did not conceal his indignation at 
what he pronounced to be 44 the insolent interference of the 
Jesuit." Knowing full well that the Indians had suffered so 
severel} T , that they would submit to almost any indignity, rather 
than consent to the renewal of the war, he assumed a menacing 
attitude, and threatened again to draw the sword. This brought 
the sagamores almost-to their knees. They said, through their 
principal speaker, — 

" It is our desire to live in peace. We wish to open friendly trade at 
fair prices. And we are willing to relinquish, for the present, all talk about 
boundary lines ; and we give our consent that the English should settle un- 
molested wherever their fathers had settlements. But we are very much 
disturbed in seeing so many forts going up." 

1 The name of this man, according to onr English authors, was Ralle; hut ac- 
cording to his own historian, Charlevoix, it was Rasle. 

2 Mr. Williamson says, on the evening of the same day. Bnt it was impossi- 
ble for the chiefs, in that time, to have sent to Norridgewock, and have obtained a 
return. It is, however, not impossible that Father Hasle may have accompanied 
the sagamores to their encampment on a neighboring island; but we have no 
intimation to that effect. 



294 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



The governor bad conquered. New articles of agreement 
were entered into, such as he dictated. The humiliated saga- 
mores returned to their homes, feeling that the English were 
their enemies, and that the French were their friends. 1 

Energetic efforts were made to extend the settlements east- 
ward of the Kennebec River. Several families reared their log 
cabins on the Damariscotta. 2 It is said that at that time there 
was not a house between Georgetown and Annapolis, with the 
exception of a single fisherman's hut on Damariscotta Island. 
A strong and capacious fort, much to the annoyance of the 
Indians, was built on the easterly bank of St. George's River, 
near where Thomaston now stands. At a short distance from 
that, a block-house was erected." The large area between was 
enclosed by palisades. This fortress, which could bid defiance 
to all Indian assailments, afforded ample accommodation for a 
garrison of two hundred and fifty men. Another strong fortress 
was built on the east side of the Kennebec River, opposite 
Swan Island. It was called Fort Richmond. 3 

The spring of 1721 opened gloomily. The Indians were 
much dissatisfied in view of the encroachments of the English. 
The strong forts they were building indicated that the English 
were determined to hold possession of the country. In these 
views the Indians unquestionably had the sympathy of Father 
Rasle. 4 

1 Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, vol. ii. p. 199 ; Collections of Xew 
Hampshire Historical Society, vol. ii. p. 89. 

2 " The Damariscotta River issues from the Damariscotta fresh ponds, -which 
are in Jefferson and Nobleborough, and which are three or four leagues in length 
from north to south. The river is navigable for ships of any burthen, about four 
leagues from the sea to the lower falls, and is, on an average, half a mile in 
width." — Williamson, vol. i. p. 56. 

3 "The site of Richmond Fort was not far from the margin of the river, on 
ground twelve or fifteen feet above the water; from which the land gradually 
ascends. There was thereabouts, in 1820, a hamlet of fifteen or twenty houses, 
a few stores, and two or three wharves." — Williamson, vol. ii. p. 98. 

4 Father Rasle, in one of his official communications found in the "Lettres 
Edifiantes et Curieuses," writes, — 

"At the time that the war was about to be rekindled between the European 
powers, the English governor (Dudley), who had lately arrived at Boston, re- 
quested a conference with our Indians by the seashore, on an island which he 
designated. They consented, and begged me to accompany them thither, that 
they might consult me with regard to any artful propositions which might be 
made to them, so that they could be assured their answers would contain nothing 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



295 



At the eastern extremity of Nova Scotia there is a narrow 
strait called Canseau, which separates the peninsula of Nova 
Scotia from the island of Cape Breton. This large island, 
embracing an area of four thousand square miles, the English 
asserted, was included in the surrender of Nova Scotia. This 
claim the French denied, and prepared to make it the depot for 
their future fisheries. The English also, in maintenance of 
their claim, established a post on the southern extremity of the 
island. The Indians of that region attacked the English post, 
and plundered it of its fish and merchandise. The Indians of 
Maine had nothing to do with this remote transaction. 

But the Legislature of Massachusetts assumed that Father 
Rasle had instigated the movement, and that he was endeavor- 
ing to inspire the Indians to enter upon a new war with religious 
fanaticism. A vote was passed that a detachment of a hundred 
and fifty soldiers should be sent to Norridgewock, with a reward 
of five hundred pounds offered, if the body of Rasle were 
brought to Boston dead or alive. The council, however, did 
not agree, as it was thought that two hundred pounds was a 
sufficient reward to offer. 

In this gloomy state of affairs there was a general. apprehen- 
sion that another war was about to open its horrors. Many of 
the settlers in Maine began to abandon their homes. 1 The 
governor was angry, and issued a decree forbidding it. But 
the fathers of young families had more fear of the tomahawk 
of the Indians than of the displeasure of the government of Mass- 
achusetts. The chiefs frequently visited the forts, and always 
with sincere protestations of their desire for peace. At the 
same time they made no attempt to disguise their sense of the 
wrongs which were inflicted upon them. In addition to the 
encroachments constantly made, the English were grossly vio^ 
lating the terms of the treaty which they themselves had 
dictated. 

The Indians had pledged themselves not to purchase any 

contrary to their religion or the interests of the king's service. I therefore fol- 
lowed them, with the intention of merely remaining in their quarters to aid their 
councils without appearing before the governor." 

1 Hutchinson's History of "Massachusetts, vol. ii. p. 236. 



296 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



goods excepting at established trading-houses. But no trading- 
houses had been established ; consequently they could have no 
trade. The Indians had been dependent upon the French for 
the repairing of their arms and tools. The English, depriving 
them of this, had promised to send smiths and armorers among 
them ; but none had been sent. Private adventurers, prowling 
around, had grossly defrauded them ; and there was no redress. 

There were, at this time, two French Catholic missions in 
Maine, the one at Norridgewock and another on the Penobscot. 
It would seem that these missionaries had succeeded in winning, 
to a very extraordinary degree, the love of the Indians. They 
very naturally associated the Catholic religion with French pro- 
tection, and the Protestant religion with British encroachments. 
There had been some individual acts of outrage on the part of 
vagabond young Indians, which the sachems deplored, but 
which they could not prevent. 

There was a large meeting of the sachems at Norridgewock, 
in the } T ear 1721, to choose a new chief in the place of one who 
had died. These veterans in the miseries of war were so 
anxious to prevent a renewal of hostilities, that they sent an 
envoy to Boston with a present of two hundred beaver-skins as 
a pledge of their desire for peace. The messenger was also 
instructed to offer them four hostages for the future good 
behavior of their young men, and to promise that ample 
reparation should be made for all the damage they had caused. 

When the governor of Canada was informed of this, it is said 
that he felt that the sachems had humiliated themselves, and 
that he wrote as follows to Father Rasle : — 

" The faint hearts of your Indians, in giving hostages for damages done 
those who woulcf drive them from their native country, have convinced me 
that the present is a crisis in which a moment is not to be lost. Therefore 
I have applied to the villages of St. Francois and Beaucourt, and prevailed 
upon them to support with vigor their brethren at Xorridgewock, and to 
send a deputation to the place appointed, f or negotiating the proposed treaty, 
who dare let the English know they will have to deal with other tribes than 
the one at Norridgewock if they continue their encroachments " 1 

1 I give this important letter upon the authority of Mr. Williamson, though he 
does not state the source from which he derives it. He is generally very accu- 
rate, though perhaps not ready to make full acknowledgment of that British 
intolerance which goaded the savages into war. 



TEE HISTORY \ OF MAINE. 



297 



According to Mr. Williamson, the governor of Canada invited 
the Indian sagamores and sachems, from the Kennebec and the 
Penobscot, to meet on Padeshal's Island, near Arrowsic, for a 
general council. On the 1st of August, 1721, ninety birch 
canoes bore to that island two hundred Indians. Father Rasle 
accompanied the Kennebec Indians, and young Castine accom- 
panied those from the Penobscot. We are not informed as to 
the results of this council. According to Mr. Williamson, a 
letter was sent to Capt. Penhallow, who commanded the gar- 
rison at Arrowsic, stating that, if the English settlers did not 
remove from that region within three weeks, the Indians would 
come and kill them all, and burn their houses, and kill their 
cattle. It is hardly possible that such a menacing letter could 
have been sent by the sachems there convened. It is univer- 
sally admitted that the sagamores were very anxious to avoid 
the renewal of hostilities. The Kennebec Indians convened at 
Norridgewock, where the influence of .Father Rasle was para- 
mount, had just sent to Boston proposals for peace, couched in 
the most humble and imploring terms. It is. universally known 
that young Castine, by far -the most potent chief among the 
Penobscots, was "the constant advocate of peace ; and, more- 
over, the three weeks passed away, and there was no hostile 
movement whatever among the Indians. Not an Englishman 
was killed, not a house was burned, not an act of plunder took 
place. 

The general feeling of the British towards Father Rasle was 
that of the most intense hostility. Mr. Williamson undoubtedly 
expresses the popular feeling, when he writes of this Catholic 
missionary, — 

" So often had his malignity, pride, and officious interference awakened 
among the Indians new complaints, that the people of the province, for good 
reasons, ranked him among the most infamous villains, and would Jaave 
given more for his head than for a hundred scalps of the natives." 1 

1 In reference to these events, Charlevoix, the French historian, writes, " Apres 
plusieurs tentatives d'abord poiir engager ces sauvages, par les off res et les 
promesses les pins seduisantes, a le livrer anx Anglais, ou du moins a la renvoyer 
a Quebec, et a prendre en sa place un de leiirs ministres; ensuite pour le sur- 
prendre etpour l'enlever, les Anglais resolut de s'en defaire, quoiqu'il leur en dut 
couter, mirent sa tete a pris, et proinirent mille livres sterling a celui qui la leur 
porterait." — Charlevoix, t. ii. p. 380. 



298 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



We think the statement of Messrs. Coolidge and Mansfield, 
in their admirable " Description of New England," far more in 
accordance with the facts. They write, — 

"In all the ulterior designs of the English upon the Indians, whether in 
wresting their territory from them, or in cheating them in trade, they were 
held in check by their dread of this tribe (the Xorridgewocks). Under 
these circumstances only one remedy remained, which was the destruction 
of the village, and the murder of Rasle and his Indians." 

The following additional passage, from their candid and accu- 
rate history, explains truthfully the reason why the French 
had so much more influence over the Indians than the English 
had: — 

" It may seem strange to some, that the Indians were always found on 
amicable terms w^Ui the F rench, while they were ever making inroads upon 
the settlements of the English. But the means used by the two nations 
were entirely opposite. While the French, with their social fascination and 
flexibility of character, used every method of conciliation towards them, 
giving them warlike implements, accompanying them on their hunting ex- 
cursions, and becoming intimately identified with them by marriage, the 
English looked upon them with detestation and horror, taking every oppor- 
tunity for their extermination, and using every means to annoy and exasper- 
ate them." 1 

The threatening aspect of affairs greatly alarmed the Indians. 
They had no opportunity of purchasing those arms and that 
ammunition which had now become indispensable to them in 
hunting, unless, in violation of the treaty, they repaired to their 
French friends in Canada. On the other hand, they saw strong 
garrisons rising on territory which they deemed their own, and 
crowded with soldiers who could set all their efforts to reclaim 
the lands at defiance. 

The Indian hostages, who had voluntarily surrendered them- 
selves, were rather loosely guarded on an island in Boston Har- 
bor. They made their escape. This was considered by the 
English a very hostile act. Expresses were sent immediately 
to all the fortresses on the eastern frontiers of Maine, ordering 
all to be ready for war, and to arrest any Indian huntsmen they 

1 History and Description of New England, by Messrs. Coolidge and Mansfield, 
vol. i. p. 233 



THE HISTORY OF 31 A IN E. 



299 



could find, and hold them in custody until the hostages were 
surrendered. A special meeting of the General Court was con- 
vened at Boston, on the 23d of August, 1721 ; and it was 
decided to pursue and punish the Indians for the crime of 
Rebellion against the English government. 

Three hundred soldiers were enlisted to prosecute the war. 
A proclamation was issued, demanding of the Indians that they 
should deliver up to the English Father Rasle and every other 
French missionary. The}?" were also required to make ample 
reparation for all past injuries. If these terms were not promptly 
complied with, the soldiers Avere commanded to seize the Indi- 
ans wherever found, and send them captives to Boston. 

It is not to be supposed that these stern measures were 
adopted without opposition. Many good men remonstrated 
against them. The} 7 " declared that the stipulations made in the 
treaty of Arrowsic had never been fulfilled, that the Indians 
had been atrociously wronged without, having any opportunity 
to obtain redress, and that they had been guilty of nothing 
which warranted a resort to such measures of violence. These 
loud remonstrances, together with the recapture of the hostages, 
caused a slight relaxation of the war movement, but no relaxa- 
tion in the uncompromising spirit of those in power. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE VICISSITUDES OF WAR. 

The War Renewed — Resolve of the British — Westbrook's Attempt on an 
Indian "Village — An Indian Fort — Expedition to Oldtown — Attempt upon 
Norridgewock — Beauty of the Village — Savage Depredations — Father 
Rasle and his Chapel — His Letters — Murder of Bomaseen — Slaughter at 
Norrklgewock — Death of Rasle — Tribute to His Memory — Capt. Love- 
well's Achievement — Drake's Narrative. 

THE English had seized many peaceable Indians, who were 
guilty of no crime and charged with no act of hostility, 
and were holding them as hostages for the good behavior of 
the tribes. On the 13th of June two parties of Indians, the 
one from the Androscoggin and the other from the Kennebec, 
met at Merrymeeting Bay. There were twenty canoes in all, 
containing sixty men. By way of reprisal they seized nine 
families. All were treated humanely. They soon liberated 
the women and children, and all the men excepting four. These 
they held as indemnities for the safety of the four Indian hos- 
tages in the hands of the English. 

It was now again war, mad, deadly, ruinous war. Each party 
struck blows as fast and heavy as possible. The Indians en- 
deavored to surprise Fort George, near Thomaston. They 
burned a sloop, and killed several prisoners, but they were com- 
pelled to retire before obtaining a surrender. The attack- was 
soon renewed, but with equal want of success. The British 
lost five men, and the Indians, according to the English account, 
lost twenty. This fortress was built by the individual proprie- 
tors of what was called the Waldo Patent. The government 
adopted it as a public garrison, sent to it a re-enforcement of 
forty-five men, with a sufficient supply of ammunition. Col. 

300 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



301 



Thomas TTestbrook was placed in command. Two or three 
Englishmen were captured from a boat which landed from a 
vessel in Passamaquocldy Bay. One Englishman was killed at 
Casco, and several Indians were pursued and shot down. 

Capt. John Harman ascended the Kennebec in pursuit of 
Indians. His boats conveyed thirty-five well-armed men. He 
saw the gleam of camp-fires in the woods. Silently he landed 
his troops, and, in the darkness, crept through the forest. They 
reached the encampment. The Indians were asleep without 
any guard. Deliberate aim was taken. There was one deadly 
volley. There remained only the corpses of fifteen Indians. 
We know not "that one escaped. The victors gathered up the. 
guns, the ammunition, and the blankets of the Indians, and 
returned triumphantly to their boats. 

In July, 1722, the governor and council proclaimed that the 
"Indians were " traitors and robbers," and declared. war against 
them as the king's enemies. 1 

The Indians were feeble. They could no longer inflict any 
extensive injury. They could not wander far. All that they 
could accomplish was occasionally to shoot an Englishman, cap- 
ture a boat, and burn a cabin, tomahawking or capturing the 
inmates. The British prepared to prosecute the war with great 
vigor, being apparently resolved to exterminate the race. 
Several armed vessels were employed, with a fleet of whale- 
boats, sufficient to cruise along all the coasts, and penetrate all 
the rivers where Indian villages could be found. An army of 
a thousand well-armed men was employed upon the various 
expeditions now undertaken. A hundred soldiers were stationed 
at York, thirty at Falmouth, twenty at North Yarmouth, ten at 
Maquoit, twenty-five at Arrowsic, and twenty-five at Fort 
Richmond. 

A. detachment of three hundred men was sent to the Penob- 

1 " Both in and out of the legislature there were men who doubted whether a 
war upon the natives would be justifiable. ' We have been,' they said, 1 derelict 
both as to moral and stipulated duties. We have not performed our engagements 
towards the Indians in the establishment of trading-houses, and the prevention 
of frauds and extortions, according to treaty promises. The measures of strong 
drink dealt to them are a. scandal to our religion, and reproach to our country.' " 
— Williamson.) vol. il p. 117. 



302 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



scot, with orders utterly to destroy every thing there belonging 
to the Indians. Four hundred sailors and soldiers were de- 
spatched to ravage the coast between the Kennebec River and 
the Penobscot, and sweep away every vestige of Indian habita- 
tion. We blush to add that a bounty was offered of fifteen 
pounds for the scalp of every Indian boy of twelve years of 
age. Soon after, the government encouraged the adoption of a 
sort of land-privateering in pursuit of scalps. To all volunteers 
who, without pay or rations, would embark, at their own ex- 
pense, in the search for scalps, a bounty of a hundred pounds 
was offered for each one taken. 1 

A sloop of war was sent to Nova Scotia against the Canseau 
Indians ; thus the Canadian, the Nova Scotian, and the Maine 
Indians were all involved. A large party of Indians made an 
attack upon the flourishing settlement at Arrowsic, which, it 
will be remembered, was then. called Georgetown. It was early 
in the morning of the 10th of September, 1722. The inhabit- 
ants all took refuge in the garrison, after having killed one of 
the Indians and wounded three others. 

The Indians attacked the fort ; but, finding that they could 
make no impression upon it, they killed fifty head of cattle, and 
laid twenty-six houses in ashes. One Englishman only was 
shot, through a porthole. The Indians ascended the Kennebec 
as far as Fort Richmond ; but, finding these works also too 
strong for them to carry, they retired up the river. 

On the 11th of February, 1722, Col. Thomas Westbrook 
embarked from the mouth of the Kennebec River, with a 
detachment of two hundred and thirty men, to ravage the coast 
as far as the Penobscot. He had several small vessels well 
armed, and a good supply of whale-boats. They apparently 
found nothing to employ them until they reached Mt. Desert, 
where they made a short stop. They then ascended the river, 
and cast anchor, as is supposed in Marsh Bay. 2 

There t\\Qj left their vessel and boats, and commenced a march 

1 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 118. 

2 Marsh Bay is an expansion of the Penobscot River a few miles above Bucks- 
port. Here the majestic stream is more than a mile wide. The pleasant village 
of Frankfort is situated on the western banks of this bay, at the head of winter 
navigation. See Williamson, vol. i. p. 69 ; Coolidge and Mansfield, p. 127. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



303 



through the forest, still ascending the river in search of an 
important village and fort of the Indians which were known to 
have been in that region. At length they reached a spot which 
is supposed to have been the lower Stillwater in Orono, about 
six miles above Kenduskeag River. 1 Here Col. Westbrook left 
a guard of a hundred men to protect the provisions and tents, 
while he selected fifty veterans in Indian warfare to go in search 
of the fort. It was soon found, without the scouts being dis- 
covered by the Indians. 

Forty men were left on guard on the west side of the river. 
The whole of the remaining force was then ferried across in 
canoes hastily prepared. Rapidly traversing- the trails on the 
eastern bank, they reached a point opposite the fort and village, 
about six o'clock in the evening of the same day. It was about 
the 10th or 11th of March. It was dark. The fort was on an 
island. The winter had been remarkably open, and the stream 
was not frozen over ; still immense blocks of ice were swept 
along by the black current. 

But not a camp-fire was burning ; not a torch glimmered 
through the darkness ; not -a sound was heard to disturb the 
wintry silence of the drear scene. The morning light revealed 
only desolate and abandoned habitations. The wary Indians, 
apprehending such a visit, had in the previous autumn retired, 
taking with them every thing of the least value. The English, 
after their long voyage and painful march, found nothing, not 
even a poor scalp to reward them. 

The Indians had probably received instruction from French 
engineers in building the fort. It was quite scientifically 
arranged, being seventy yards in length and fifty in breadth. 
The stockades were of heavy timber firmly planted, and fourteen 
feet in height. Within the stockades there were twenty-three 
comfortable, well-built houses, regularly arranged. On the 
south side of this little fortified village, there was the largest 
and finest structure in the place. It was the chapel which the 

1 " Bangor is on one of the noblest rivers in the Northern States, the product of 
an almost countless number of tributary streams. The city is seated upon both 
sides of the Kenduskeag River, and is the mart of one of the most extensive and 
one of the richest alluvial basins east of the Ohio Valley." — Coolidge and Mansfield, 
p. 47. 



304 



TEE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



missionaries had reared, and it was handsomely finished both 
within and without. This edifice, consecrated to Christian 
worship, was sixty feet in length and thirty in breadth. Just 
south of the chapel was the parsonage, a large and commodious 
dwelling-house. 

The English applied the torch to fort, dwellings, chapel, and 
parsonage. Having seen all reduced to ashes, they returned to 
their tents, marched down to their transports, and on the 20th 
of the month cast anchor at Fort George. 1 

Another winter campaign was attempted, which proved even 
more futile. An expedition was sent to destroy the village at 
Norridgewock, and to kill Father Rasle. On the Gth of Feb- 
ruary the troops reached the falls at Brunswick. The storms 
of winter were beating upon them, and its drifting snows 
encumbered their path. It surely was not wisdom which dic- 
tated such an enterprise at that season of the year. Painfully 
they toiled up the banks of the Androscoggin until they reached 
a remarkable bend of the river, in the region of the present 
town of Jay. By crossing the country from this place in a 
northerly direction, a few miles would take them to the Sandy 
River, where the beautiful town of Farmington now adorns the 
landscape. By following down the valley of the Sandy River, 
they could reach Norridgewock by a totally unexpected route. 
Thus they hoped to strike the Indians entirely by surprise. 

But just then occurred that remarkable phenomenon known 
in Maine as the January thaw. A warm rain, followed by the 
ra}'s of almost a summer's sun, melted the deep snows. Every 
little rill was swollen to a torrent. All the fields were covered 
more than knee deep with that melting snow appropriately 
called slosh. The icy moisture penetrated leather as though it 
were brown paper. The discomfort was so extreme that further 
journeying became impracticable. The soldiers, dividing into 
small parties, returned, not having caught sight of a single 
Indian. 

1 Mr. Williamson, in reply to the question, "Where was the site of this im- 
portant fortress and village ? " after discussing various suppositions, says, "The 
alternative, then, is, that the site must have heen Oldtown, or the ancient Lett 
mentioned by Levingston." — Williamson, vol. ii. p. 121, note. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



305 



During the year 1723, the Indians could boast but little more 
success in this petty and miserable warfare than had attended 
the English. Prowling about in small bands, they succeeded 
in killing or capturing between twenty and thirty of the inhabit- 
ants of Maine. One man fell dead, struck by eleven bullets. 
Mr. Sullivan speaks of another who died of fifteen shot-wounds. 
Roger Deering and his wife, in Scarborough, were shot. Their 
three little children, who were out picking berries, were seized 
and carried into captivity. 

The government of Massachusetts made strenuous efforts to 
induce the Mohawks to enlist in the war against the Indians of 
Maine. This ferocious tribe, in the month of August, 1723, 
sent sixty-three of their most renowned warriors to confer with 
the government at Boston. They were received with the 
greatest hospitality, loaded with presents, and feasted with a 
fat ox in their own style, with songs and dances. Yet for some 
unexplained reason they persistently refused to take up arms 
against their brethren in Maine, unless they themselves were 
molested. They, however, consented that any of their } T oung 
men who wished to do so, might enlist in the service of the 
English. 

Only two of the Mohawks enlisted. They were lawless men. 
Soon getting sick of the bargain, where no plunder was .to be 
obtained, and still less renown, they abandoned the service, and 
returned to Boston. The Indians in the eastern part of the 
State, while eluding all pursuit, were very vigilant. Exposed 
dwellings were sure to be burned, and unguarded boats or 
unwary individuals were certain to be captured or shot. There 
was no safety but within the garrison-houses. A boat's crew 
was landing at Mount Desert. A band of Indians who had 
been w 7 atching them sprang from ambush, and captured 
all. 

It is remarkable that, exasperated as were the Indians at this 
period of the war, they generally treated their prisoners very 
humanely. As we have before mentioned, the children, even 
of good families, often became so much attached to their captors 
that they were quite unwilling to return to civilized life. At 
Vaughan's Island a man was shot, and another near by. On 

20 



306 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Kennebunk River two families were attacked. Some were 
killed, and others carried into captivity. 1 

On the 25th of December, a very determined band of about 
sixty warriors made a desperate attack upon the fort at St. 
George's River. 2 For thirty days they continued the siege, with 
a degree of persistence which they had never before manifested. 
The defence was heroic. At length re-enforcements arrived, 
and the Indians retired, taking with them one captive. 3 

For the protection of the frontiers during the winter months, 
three ranging parties were organized of fifty men each, who 
were to be continually on the move in search of Indian bands. 
There were, at that time, fifteen forts or garrison-houses, all of 
which were strengthened, re-enforced, and fully supplied. 4 But 
the Indians, as the snows fell heavily in the forests, and the icy 
winds swept the plains, undertook no campaign, but gathered 
around the fires in their far-distant wigwams. 

The desire to capture Father Rasle continued unabated. A 
thousand livres were offered for his head. 5 In mid-winter Capt. 
Moulton was sent with an armed force up the Kennebec River 
to Norridgewock, to kill or to capture him. But the vigilant 
eye of the Indians had detected the movement. The} T all fled, 
taking their missionary with them. Capt. Moulton was a 
humane man. The little Indian village at Xorridgewock seemed 
to be emerging from barbarism to civilization. He therefore, 
hoping that his example of forbearance might exert a salutary 
influence upon the minds of the Indians, ordered his soldiers to 
inflict no wanton injury. The men returned from their fruitless 
expedition, leaving all things as they had found them. 

1 Sullivan's History of Maine, p. 230. 

2 St. George's Kiver rises in Montville. After running south twenty-five miles, 
affording a variety of mill privileges, it meets the tide in Warren, twenty miles 
from its mouth. The old fort was on the east side of the river, about sixteen 
miles above its motith. The residence of Gen. Knox was subsequently built near 
its ruins. — Williamson, vol. i. p. 50. 

s Hutchinson's History, vol. ii. p. 276. 

4 These were at St. George, Arrowsic, Richmond, Xorth Yarmouth, Saco, 
Arundel, Kennebunk, Wells, York, Kittery, and Berwick. — Records, Resolves, and 
Journals of Massachusetts Government, vol. ii. p. 198. 

5 Collections of Mas? ickusetts Historical Society, vol. viii. p. 266. A livre was 
a French coin valued at about eighteen and three-quarters cents. It is now super- 
seded by the franc. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



307 



The Kennebec was famous for its rich fishery. Sturgeon and 
salmon were in abundance. Water-fowl crowded its shores. 
Its fertile meadows, free from forest, afforded the Indians invit- 
ing fields for their corn. To prevent them from fishing, fowl- 
ing, or planting, and thus to distress them with famine, thirty 
men were sent early in the spring to range the river in boats. 

Early in March of 1724, the Indians recommenced their 
depredations. More than thirty people in Maine were either 
killed, wounded, or carried into captivity, in the course of three 
months. Like wolves they came rushing from the forest, and 
no one could anticipate their point of attack. One man was 
shot upon his door-sill. Mr. Mitchell, with his two little boys, 
was at work in his field, when unseen savages, skulking behind 
stumps and trees, shot him down, and carried away his boys as 
captives. At Kennebunk the savages captured a sloop, after 
killing all of the crew. Near by, three men, at work in a saw- 
mill, were killed. At Berwick Mr. Thompson was shot, one of 
his children tomahawked, and the other left for dead, bleeding, 
gasping, and scalped. Such was the character of this wretched 
warfare. 

There was another tragic adventure which merits more special 
notice. A boat's company of sixteen well-armed men left the 
fort on St. George's River on a fishing excursion. It was the 
30th of April, 1724. They embarked in two strong whale- 
boats, led by Capt. Josiah Winslow, who was commandant of 
the garrison. The boats passed down the river, and sailed along 
the coast to the east, until they reached the Green Islands in 
Penobscot Bay. It seems that the Indians caught sight of 
them, and nearly a hundred warriors gathered in ambush on 
the banks of the St. George, to cut them off on their return. 
They hid in the thick underbrush at a narrow point of the 
stream, on both banks. They had thirty canoes carefully con- 
cealed. The Indians waited until one boat had passed by, and 
then poured a deadly volley of bullets into the other. Nearly 
every man was killed or wounded. The savages then leaped 
into their canoes, and, outnumbering their foes more than ten 
to one, ventured upon an open attack, completely surrounding 
the boats. 



308 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



The English, seeing their destruction to be inevitable, re- 
solved to sell their lives as dearly as possible. They fought 
desperately until all were shot down. How many warriors the 
savages lost in the bloody fray, was never known. It appears 
that there were three friendly Indians in the boats, and these the 
savages allowed to escape. The death of Capt. Winslow was 
deeply felt. He was a young man of great worth, a recent 
graduate from Harvard College, and a member of one of the 
most illustrious families of Massachusetts. 

The savages succeeded, during the summer, in capturing 
twent} T -two fishing vessels. They made a fleet of fifty canoes. 
These light birch-bark structures they could carry through the 
forest paths almost as easily as they could carry a musket. 
Each canoe was generally sufficient for three warriors. Launch- 
ing them at any designated point, they would push out with 
great rapidity, and entirely surround a small vessel, whose crew 
ordinarily consisted of but from five to eight men. The capture 
was then easy. Any one who exposed himself upon the deck 
was sure to be shot down. 

In these encounters twenty-two men were killed, and twenty- 
three carried into captivity. 1 The triumphant Indians, having 
destroyed sixteen of the garrison of the fort in the whale-boats, 
now paddled up the river, hoping to capture the fort itself, and 
seize all its valuable contents. 2 

This fortification bade defiance to all their efforts. It was 
built of hewn timber, twenty inches square. It was quadran- 
gular in form, each side being a hundred feet in length and 
sixteen feet high. Within the enclosure there was a good sup- 
ply of comfortable barracks and a good well of water. From 
the southern wall there was a covered way, constructed of logs, 
leading to a large, strong block-house upon the bank of the 

1 Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, vol. ii. p. 278; Penhallow's Indian 
"Wars. 

2 " The English asserted that the Indians had sold the land to Got. Phips, the 
deed having been signed by one of their chiefs, Madockawando. In reply to this, 
the Indians maintained that the Madockawando and Sheepscot J ohn, who signed 
the deed, were not Penobscot Indians, one belonging to Machias and the other in 
the vicinity of Boston; consequently these chiefs had disposed of what did not 
rightfully belong to thetn, and the deed was therefore null- and void." — Histoi'y 
of Neio England, by Coolidge and Mansfield, vol. i. p. 324. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



309 



river, where several pieces of cannon commanded the stream. 
The Indians, rinding that they could make but little impression 
upon these strong works, retired, and soon made their appear- 
ance again at Arrowsic. They succeeded in capturing three of 
the inhabitants, and in killing many cattle. 

About the middle of July a band of twenty-seven made an 
attack upon a house near the garrison at Spurwink. They shot 
Mr. Solomon Jordan as he was incautiously leaving the gate of 
the garrison. They were driven off, and a heroic band from 
the fort pursued them. The Indians, taken by surprise in 
their encampment, fled, leaving behind them twenty-five packs, 
twelve blankets, a gun, and several other articles. The Indians 
generally carried away their dead. One only was found killed. 
Him the English scalped, and for the revolting trophy received 
a bounty of a hundred pounds in Boston. 1 

There was no village of the Indians which presented more 
attractions than Old Point, where the pleasant little hamlet of 
Norridgewock stood. The Kennebec here makes a large bend, 
forming a beautiful and rich intervale of about a hundred acres. 
The village was regularly built on the land as it gently rose 
above the intervale. The huts were erected on one street or 
path, about eight feet wide. The church, surmounted by the 
cross, was by far the most imposing building in the place. It 
stood a little back from the street, at the lower end of the 
village, and was neatly constructed of hewn timber. A spring 
of delicious water gushed from the bank, affording to all an 
ample supply. 2 

1 History of Portland, by William Willis, p. 349. 

2 Francis, in his Life of Father Rasle, writes, " Whoever has visited the pleas- 
ant town of Norridgewock as it now is must have heard of Indian Old Point, as 
the people call the place where Rasle's village stood; and perhaps curiosity may 
have carried him thither. If so, he has found a lovely sequestered spot, in the 
depths of nature's stillness, on a point around which the waters of the Kennebec, 
not far from their confluence with those of the Sandy River, sweep on in their 
beautiful course, as if to the music of the rapids above; a spot over which the sad 
memory of the past, without its passions, will throw a charm, and on which he 
will believe the ceaseless worship of nature might blend itself with the aspirations 
of Christian devotion. 

" And he will turn from the place with the feeling that the hatef ulness of the 
mad spirit of war is aggravated by such a connection with nature's sweet retire- 
ment." 



310 THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 

The rich intervale, entirely free from forest or brush, afforded 
an admirable cornfield ; and, under the careful culture of the 
women, an ample harvest of the golden grain was generally 
gathered. About two miles above the village there were some 
falls where salmon, shad, and alewives were taken in great 
abundance. The poet Whittier, in his poem of " Mog Megone," 
gives a very graphic description of the charming scenery of this 
spot. Alluding to the log-built chapel, he writes, — 

" Yet the traveller knows it a house of prayer, 
For the sigu of the holy cross is there; 
And should he chance at that place to he, 
Of a sabhath morn, or some hallowed day, 
When prayers are made and masses are said, 
Some for the living and some for the dead, — 
Well might that traveller start to see 
The tall dark forms that take their way, 
From the birch canoe on the river shore, 
And the forest paths, to that chapel door; 
Marvel to mark the naked knees, 
And the dusky foreheads bending there, 
While fn coarse white vesture, over these, 

In blessing or in prayer, 
Stretching abroad his thin pale hands, 
Like a shrouded ghost the Jesuit stands." 

The church was well adapted to make a deep impression upon 
the minds of the Indians. It was quite richly decorated with 
paintings of the crucifixion, and of other momentous events in 
biblical history. Silver plate was provided for sacramental ser- 
vices. Father Rasle, with apostolic self-denial and zeal, had 
been laboring amidst the solitudes of that remote wilderness 
for thirty-five years. He had made many converts, and had 
won, to an extraordinary degree, the love of the whole tribe. 

The converts were put on probation for a time; and after 
suitable instruction, when Father Rasle became convinced of 
their sincerity, they were baptized, and admitted to full com- 
munion. About forty young Indians were trained to form a 
choir, and in other ways to assist the pastor in his religious 
exercises. They were clad in surplices and other clerical robes, 
intended to impress the people with a sense of the solemnity of 
their service. 

Morning and evening the Indians were assembled in the 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



311 



chapel for prayer and singing. Living generally a listless life, 
with but little to do and but little to occupy their minds, the 
households gathered eagerly in the chapel to enjoy these observ- 
ances. In one of his letters he testifies to the sweetness with 
which the young Indians sang, and to the unvarying propriety 
and devoutness with which they performed their religious 
duties. 

We have before mentioned that Father Rasle was by birth a 
gentleman of illustrious family, and that he had received an 
accomplished education ; yet we can never detect in his letters 
a murmur in view of the hardships of his lot. To his nephew 
in France he writes, — 

"Here I am, in a cabin in the woods, in which I find both crosses and 
religions observances among the Indians. At the dawn of the morning I 
say mass in the chapel, made of the branches of the fir-tree. The residue 
of the day I spend in visiting and consoling the savages. It is a severe 
affliction to see so many famished persons, without being able to relieve 
their hunger. ' ' 

Many years ago thirty-four volumes of " Lettres Edifiantes 
et Curieuses," written from distant missionary stations, were 
published in France. The following extract from one of Father 
Rasle's letters will be read with interest. It was dated at 
Narantsouk, which is the Indian name for Norridgewock, Oct. 
15, 1722, only about two years before his death : — 

* ' None of my converts fail to repair twice each day to the church , — 
in the morning to hear mass, and in the evening to assist at the prayers 
which I offer at sunset. As it is necessary to fix the imagination of these 
Indians, which is too easily distracted, I have composed some appropriate 
prayers for them to make, to enable them to enter into the spirit of the 
august sacrifice of our altars. Besides the sermons which I deliver before 
them on Sundays and festival days, I scarcely pass a week-day without 
making a short exhortation to inspire them with a horror of those vices 
to which they are most addicted, or to strengthen them in the practice of 
some virtue. 

" After mass I teach the catechism to the children and young persons, 
while a large number of aged people who are present assist, and answer 
with perfect docility the questions which I put to them. The rest of the 
morning, even to mid-day, is set apart for seeing those who wish to speak 
with me. They come to me in crowds to make me a participator in their 



312 



TEE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



pains and inquietudes, or to communicate to me causes of complaint against 
th^ir countrymen, or to consult me on their marriages and other affairs of 

importance. 

" It is therefore necessary for me to instruct some, to console others, to 
re-establish peace in families at variance, to calm troubled consciences, to 
correct others by reprimands mingled with softness and charity; in fine, as 
far as possible to render them all contented. 

" After mid-day I visit the sick, and go around among the cabins of those 
who require more particular instructions. If they hold a council, which is 
often the case with these Indians, they depute one of their principal men to 
ask me to assist in their deliberations. I accordingly repair to the place 
where their council is held. If I think they are pursuing a wise course, I 
approve of it. If, on the contrary, I have any thing to say in opposition to 
their decision, I declare my sentiments, supporting them by weighty reasons. 
My advice always fixes their resolutions. 

" In the midst of such occupations, you cannot imagine with what rapidity 
the days pass by. When the Indians repair to the seashore, where they 
pass some months in hunting ducks and other birds which are found there 
in large numbers, they build on an island a church, which they cover 
with bark, and near it they erect a little cabin for my residence. I take 
care to transport thither a part of our ornaments, and the service is per- 
formed with the same decency and the same crowds of people as at the 
village. 

" You see, then, my dear nephew, what are my occupations. For that 
which relates to me personally, I will say to you that I neither see, nor hear, 
nor speak f .to any but the Indians. My food is very simple and light. I 
have never been able to conform my taste to the meat or smoked fish of the 
savages. My nourishment is composed only of corn which they pound, and 
of which I make, each day, a kind of hominy, which I boil in water. The 
only luxury in which I indulge is a little sugar, which I mix with it to 
correct its insipidity. This is now wanting in the forest. In the spring 
the maple-trees contain a liquor very similar to that which is found in the 
sugar-canes of the southern islands. The women employ themselves in col- 
lecting this in vessels of bark as it is distilled from the trees. They then 
boil it, and draw off from it a very good sugar." 

On the 19th of August, 1724, a party of two hundred and 
eight men, accompanied by three Mohawk Indians, left Rich- 
mond Fort, opposite Swan Island, for an attack upon Norridge- 
wock. The troops ascended the river in seventeen whale-boats. 
The next day they reached Teconnet, now Winslow, where 
they landed. Forty men were left to guard the boats ; the 
remainder of the party commenced a rapid march, on the morn- 
ing of the 21st, through the woods, to strike the foe by surprise. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



313 



The party was led by Capts. Harmon 1 and Moulton. Towards 
the evening of that day they overtook the noted chief Boma- 
seen, with his wife and daughter. The chief and his child 
were both shot ; the wife was taken captive. 2 

It was a little after noon of the 22d when the soldiers came 
in sight of the village. The party was divided into three 
bands of nearly equal numbers, so as to encircle the village, and 
cut off all escape. Two of these were placed in ambush, while 
the remainder were marshalled for an impetuous charge. There 
is considerable diversity in the details of the narratives which 
are given of the massacre which ensued. After examining 
several different accounts, the writer thinks the following as 
impartial as any which can now be given : — 

The thickets which surrounded the village were so dense that 
the assailants were not discovered until they poured in a volley 
of bullets upon the wigwams and their inmates. Immediately, 
with loud shouts, the English rushed upon their victims. The 
consternation was terrible. The only thing thought of was 
escape by flight. There were but about fifty men in the village. 
It is evident that nothing like a defence was attempted, since 
the Indians were skilled marksmen, and yet not an Englishman 
was shot. 

The savages endeavored only to save their aged men, their 
wives, and their children. In a tumultuous mass, the women 
and children shrieking, they rushed towards the river. The 
encircling foe cut off escape in every other direction. Though 
the water was low, in the channel it was six feet deep, which 
precluded the possibility of wading across. The husbands and 
fathers endeavored, by swimming, to aid the helpless. A dread- 
ful slaughter took place. Those placed in ambush rose, and all 
rushed forward, hurling a storm of bullets upon the crowded 
assemblage of men, women, and children struggling in the 
water. 

The deed was soon accomplished. Many were drowned, and 

1 Sullivan, p. 175, probably by mistake, calls the senior officer Hammond. 

2 They fell in with Bomaseen about Taconnet, where they shot him as he was 
escaping through the river. His wife and daughter were in a barbarous manner 
fired upon; the daughter killed and the mother taken. — Drake's Book of the In- 
dians, book iii. p. Ill 



314 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



many pierced by bullets were swept down by the stream to 
their watery graves. It was estimated that about eighty were 
slain. This seems a small number when we reflect that nearly 
two hundred practised soldiers were discharging their guns as 
rapidly as possible upon them, taking deliberate aim. The 
awful deed of slaughter was soon accomplished. The pursuers 
returned to the village, where they found Father Rasle in the 
parsonage. As he came forward to meet them, a shower of 
bullets pierced his body, and he fell dead. 1 

The slain, such as could be found, including Father Rasle, 
were scalped, and the soldiers retired. Gradually the Indians 
who had escaped returned to their utterly desolated homes. 
Even the stoicism of the savage was overcome, as he gazed upon 
the smouldering ruins, and the gory bodies of his relatives and 
friends, men, women, and children, which were strewed around. 
Their first care was to search for the remains of their beloved 
missionary. These they washed, and with prayers and loud 
lamentations buried below the altar, where he had so often 
ministered to them in sacred things. Over the remains they 
reared a rude cross. Their chief Bomaseen, and the others of 
the dead, they also buried with such solemnities as they had 
been taught to exercise. 2 

The tribe was destroyed. The few woe-stricken survivors, 
having completed their mournful task, turned sadly from the 
homes endeared to them by all the associations of childhood, 
and which their ancestors had occupied through countless gen- 
erations, and sought refuge with the Penobscots. The name 
of the Norridgewocks was blotted forever from the register of 
Indian tribes. 

The reader will be interested in reading the account which 
the French historian, Pere de Charlevoix, gives of this tragic 

1 " Great brutality and ferocity are chargeable to the English in this affair, 
according to their own account; such as killing -women and children, and scalping 
and mangling the body of Father Rasle." — Drake's Booh of the Indians, book iii. 
p. 119. 

2 For further particulars see Belknap's History of New Hampshire, toI. ii. 
p. 50; Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, vol. ii. p. 279; Penhallow's Indian 
Wars. It will be perceived that there are considerable discrepancies in the 
details. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



315 



event in his 44 Histoire et Discoverie Generale de la Nouvelle 
France." We give a literal translation from the French : — 

" There were then but fifty warriors in the village. They seized their 
arms, and ran tumultuously, not to defend the place against an enemy who 
had already entered it, but to aid the aged men, the women, and the children 
in their flight, and to give them time to gain the other side of the river. 
Father Rasle, apprised, by the clamor and the tumult, of the danger in 
which his converts were involved, presented himself uniatimidated to his 
assailants, with the hope of drawing upon himself alone their attention, and 
thus to secure the safety of his flock at the peril of his own life. 

" His hope was not in vain. Scarcely had he appeared when the English 
gave a great shout, which was followed by a shower of bullets, of which he 
fell dead near a cross which he had planted in the middle of the village. 
Seven Indians who had accompanied him, and who had wished to make for 
him a rampart of their own bodies, were killed at his side. 

" Thus died this loving pastor, giving his life for his flock, after a labori- 
ous mission of thirty-seven years. Thrown into consternation by his death, 
the Indians fled. The English, finding that they had none left to resist 
them, fell first to pillaging and then to burning the wigwams. They spared 
the church so long as they thought proper to profane the image of the adora- 
ble Saviour and the sacred vessels, and then they set it on fire. At length 
they withdrew in so great precipitation that it was rather a flight. They 
seemed to be struck with a perfect panic. 

' ' The Indians immediately returned to their village. It was their first 
care to weep over the body of their holy missionary, while the women were 
looking for plants and herbs to heal their wounded. They found him shot 
in a thousand places, scalped, his skull broke to pieces with the blows of the 
hatchets, his mouth and eyes full of mud, and the bones of his legs frac- 
tured, and all his members mangled in a hundred different ways. After his 
converts had raised up and oftentimes kissed the precious remains, so 
tenderly and so justly beloved by them, they buried him in the same place 
where he had, the evening before, celebrated the sacred mysteries; namely, 
where the altar stood before the church was burned. 1 

In the year 1833, Benedict Fenwick, bishop of Boston, re- 
paired to the site of the little chapel of Rasle, in Norridgewock, 
and on the anniversary of its destruction, Aug. 23, erected 
a monument to the memory of the self-denying missionary. 

It was of granite, surmounted by an iron cross. From the 
foundation to the highest point of the cross is eighteen feet. A 
Latin inscription, of which the following is a literal transla- 
tion, was cut into the stone : — 

1 Histoire Generale, t. ii. p. 332. 



316 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



i 'Rev. Sebastian Rasle, a native of France, a missionary of the society 
of Jesuits, at first preaching for a few years to the Illinois and Hurons, 
afterwards for thirty-four years to the Abenaquis, in faith and charity a 
true apostle of Christ; undaunted by the danger of arms, often testifying 
that he was prepared to die for his flock ; at length this best of pastors fell 
amidst arms at the destruction of the village of Xorridgewock and the ruins 
of his own church, in this very place, on the twenty-third day of August, 
A.D. 1724. 

"Benedict Fenwick, Bishop of Boston, has erected this monument, and 
dedicated it to him and his deceased children in Christ, on the 23d of 
August, A.D. 1833, to the greater glory of God." 

About two years after, some mischievous individuals over- 
turned the monument. To the credit of the inhabitants of 
Norridgewock. this conduct was not approved by them, as was 
evinced by their immediately replacing it. The accompanying 
cut represents this tribute to the memory of Father Rasle. 




MONUMENT OF RASLE, NORRIDGEWOCK. 



On the 27th the victorious detachment returned to Port 
Richmond without the loss of a single man. This was con- 
sidered the most brilliant exploit in the Indian wars since the 
death of King Philip. Capt. Harmon proceeded to Boston with 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 317 

the scalps to obtain the rich reward. He was at once promoted 
to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. 

Still desperate Indian bands infested the frontiers. A regi- 
ment of three hundred men was raised to range the country 
from the Kennebec to the Penobscot. This region was the 
favorite resort of the Indians for fowling and fishing. But the 
Indians were watchful, and but few were caught. In December 
Capt. John Lovewell, or Lovel as his name is sometimes spelled, 
went on a military excursion, with thirty men, to Lake Winni- 
piseogee, in New Hampshire. They succeeded in killing and 
scalping one Indian, and in capturing an Indian boy. For these 
they received in Boston the reward promised by law. 

Again in February, 1725, Capt. Lovewell, with forty men, 
was on the march upon the margin of a small lake, since called 
Love well's Pond, near the head of Salmon Falls River. They 
came suddenly upon a party of ten Indians, all soundly asleep 
around their camp-fires. The English silently took deliberate 
aim, and at a simultaneous discharge of their muskets killed 
nine, and sorely wounded the tenth. The wounded man sprang 
to his feet, and endeavored to escape ; but a powerful clog which 
accompanied the English soon overtook him, and held him till 
he was despatched with hatchets. For these ten scalps the 
victors received in Boston universal applause, and the more 
substantial reward of a thousand pounds sterling. 1 

The savages still succeeded in occasionally shooting a man. 
Two very worthy farmers were killed in North Yarmouth. 
Several others were attacked, and one severely wounded at 
Cape Porpoise. At Maquoit two Indians captured a man by 
the name of Cochran. The first night they bound their captive 
securely ; the second night he was more loosely confined, and 

1 Drake gives the following account of this adventure : "Lovewell, with forty- 
men, came upon a small company of ter> Indians who were asleep by their fires, 
and, by stationing his men advantageously, killed them all. After taking off their 
scalps these forty warriors marched to Boston in great triumph, with the ten 
scalps, extended upon hoops, for which they received a thousand pounds. This 
exploit was the more lauded, as it was supposed that these ten Indians were upon 
an expedition against the English upon the frontiers, having new guns, much 
ammunition, and spare blankets and moccasins- to accommodate captives. This, 
however, was mere conjecture. Whether they had killed friends or enemies was 
not quite so certain as that they had killed Indians." — Book iii. p. 121. 



318 



TEE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



the two Indians, weary with a long day's march, fell soundly 
asleep. Cochran succeeded in loosing his bonds, and, rising 
softly, with his hatchet killed them both. He took their scalps 
and their guns, the indisputable proofs of his achievement, and 
returned to the fort. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



THE PROGRESS AND TERMINATION OF LOVEWELL's WAR. 

Encampment at Great Ossipee — Serious Contest — Death of Love well — Of 
Frye — Fate of the English in Love well's War — Government Measures — 
Native Honor — Indian Distresses — Incorporation of Orono — Heath's Ex- 
pedition — Attack npon Young Castine — The Dummer Treaty — Indian 
Letters — Cost of Indian Wars — Peace concluded. 

fXN the 15th of April, 1725, Capt. John Lovewell set out on 



another expedition against the Indians. He left Dunstable 
with forty-six volunteers, thoroughly equipped. They directed 
their march toward the Ossipee Ponds, near the upper waters of 
the Saco River. Three of the company gave out under the 
fatigues of the way, and returned. 

When they reached the westerly side of the Great Ossipee 
Pond, in New Hampshire, about ten miles beyond the west line 
of Maine, they built a small stockade fort. This was intended 
as a place of retreat in case of disaster, and also as a hospital 
for eight of their number who were sick and unable to go any 
farther. They were then about one hundred miles from home. 
Here Capt. Lovewell left the sick men with a surgeon and a 
guard. 

With but thirty-two men he resumed his march towards the 
north-westerly margin of Lovewell's Pond, a distance of about 
twenty-two miles. This sheet of water, situated in the town of 
Fryeburg, is about two miles long, and its average width is 
about half a mile. They moved with much caution, for about 
two miles west of them there was an Indian village called Peg- 
wacket. Like most other Indian hamlets, it was delightfully 
situated in a fertile and romantic spot, commanding a charming 
view of land and water. 




319 



320 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Here they noiselessly encamped for the night. They heard 
the confused murmur of distant voices, which they supposed 
proceeded from the Indians, but encountered no alarm. A 
chaplain accompanied the party. He was a very noble young 
man, a recent graduate of Harvard College, by the name of 
Jonathan Frye. It was their invariable custom to have morn- 
ing prayers. 

While engaged in their devotions they were startled by the 
report of a gun. Cautiously approaching the edge of the pond, 
they saw, across the water, at the distance of nearly a mile, a 
single Indian hunter, who had just discharged his gun at some 
game. His scalp was worth five hundred dollars. Immediately 
the party set out to capture him. They had not proceeded far, 
when they came to a small plain, smooth as a floor, covered 
with pine trees, and entirely free from underbrush. Such 
plains often present the most lovely spots in our forest land- 
scapes. 

To expedite their march, the soldiers threw off their packs, 
and left them in a pile together, without any guard. They 
could easily retrace their steps and find them. Hurrying on, 
the whole party soon disappeared amidst the thickening glooms 
of the forest. After travelling about a mile they came again in 
sight of the Indian. He was not in the least aware of his dan- 
ger, and was sauntering along with a shot-gun upon his shoul- 
der and a few birds in his hand. Several guns were immedi- 
ately fired at him ; but so hurriedly, and the distance was such, 
that they all missed their aim. The Indian sprang behind a 
tree, and saw, at a glance, that escape was impossible. Taking 
deliberate aim, he fired at Capt. Lovewell, inflicting a serious 
wound. Almost at the same moment Ensign Wyman fired, and 
the Indian fell dead, pierced by his bullet. They took his scalp, 
and returned for their packs. 

In the mean time two renowned Indian chiefs, Paugus and 
Wahwa, returning from a scout down the Saco River, caught 
sight of the pile of knapsacks. They knew that the owners 
would soon return for them. By counting the packs they ascer- 
tained the number of the English. It was not difficult to trace 
the path upon which the English had advanced. There were 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



321 



between seventy and eighty warriors in the Indian band. 1 
They placed themselves in ambush, and awaited the return of 
their intended victims. 

About ten o'clock in the morning of the 8th of May, the 
English were marching leisurely along, on their return, when 
they reached the ambush. The Indians, completely surround- 
ing them, suddenly rose, and with presented guns and loud 
shouts rushed upon them. These Indians had frequented the 
western settlements of Maine, and were well acquainted with 
Capt. Lovewell 2 and most of his men. Mr. Drake, in his 
account of the battle, says that the savages were loath to kill 
these their former friends, and wished to take them captives. 
In attestation of this fact, he quotes Mr. Symmes's minute 
account of the conflict, published the same year in which it 
took place. It is certain that they did not fire from the ambush 
when they might so easily have shot down every man without 
being seen themselves. 3 

44 They presented their guns," says Drake, " and threw away 
their first fire." This only encouraged the English. Facing 
their foes, they poured in upon them a deadly fire, and several 
Indians fell. This ushered in the unequal battle in hot 
earnest. The Indians, outnumbering the English more than 
two to one, immediately sprang, each man behind a tree, and, 
entirely surrounding their victims, commenced the awful 
slaughter. At the first volley of the Indians, Capt. Lovewell 
and eight of his men fell dead, and two more were wounded. 

But these valiant men, torn by the bullets, fought their way 
to the pond, which was at the distance of but a few rods.- 
There was here a sandy beach, with a bank rising five or six 
feet high. The Indians could no longer surround them. The' 
bank presented a rampart to protect them from the bullets of 
the savages, and from behind which they could take deliberate 
aim at any foe who should venture to expose hand or head. 
Here, for eight dreadful hours, these men fought. They were 

1 Penhallow says that there were seventy; Hutchinson and Symmes, thirty;. 
Belknap, forty-one; Williamson, sixty-three. 

2 Mr. Willis, in his History of Portland, spells Lovewell, Lovell, and calls the? 
Indian village Pequakett, instead of Pegwacket, p. 250. Drake spells it PSgwoket*- 

» Drake's Book of the Indians, book iii. p. 123. 
21 



322 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



so outnumbered that flight was impossible. They had no food. 
Their knapsacks, with their spare ammunition, were seized by 
the savages. There was no chance of any re-enforcements. 
It would seem that their doom was sealed, and that by no pos- 
sibility could one escape. 

At times there was a brief lull in the battle. The Indians, 
retiring beyond gunshot, seemed to be holding a council. In 
one of the councils, or conferences, Ensign Wyman crept 
through the forest, and shot one of the chiefs. Still the Indians 
sent a bold warrior within hailing distance of the English, who 
shouted out, " Will you have quarter ? " It is probable that 
the English felt assured, that, after they had killed so many of 
the Indians, no quarter would be granted, and that their inevit- 
able doom would be death by torture. Their reply was, " We 
will have no quarter but at the muzzles of our guns." 

The firing had become quite desultory. The combatants, 
upon each side, kept concealed as much as possible, and fired 
only when quite sure of striking their foe. About the middle 
of the afternoon, Chaplain Frye received a mortal wound. He 
lived for several hours, but was heard praying earnestly that 
God would preserve his surviving companions. There were 
among the Indians praying men. These also, doubtless, with 
expiring breath, pleaded with God in behalf of their country- 
men. Both were unquestionably sincere. Alas for man ! How 
strange must have been the meeting, in the spirit land, of these 
fellow Christians, who had killed each other ! 

During the engagement, the combatants often conversed with 
each other, from behind their ramparts, separated by but a few 
yards. They called each other by name, and talked in almost 
friendly terms. John Chamberlain was a very bold, magnani- 
mous man, of large stature. His gun had become, by repeated 
firing, too foul for use. He stepped down to the water to wash 
it out. Just at that moment Paugus, the Pegwacket chief, who 
was also a man of herculean size, jumped down the bank to 
wash out his gun. They were at the distance of but a few 
yards from each other. They were well acquainted, and had 
formerly met as Hends. Paugus could speak English. 

The contest now was to see who would get his gun first in 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



323 



order. As Paugus rammed down the bullet, he said to his old 
friend, "I shall now very quick kill you." — "Perhaps not," 
said Chamberlain, who had the advantage of a gun which, in 
charging, primed itself. There was an instantaneous flash, fol- 
lowed by a report, and the Indian chief fell dead. 

The savages took great care to keep themselves concealed ; 
and it is not probable that many of them were slain. At night 
the Indians withdrew, when it would seem that they must have 
known that the English were entirely at their merc} r . Many of 
them had fired from twenty to thirty times, and their ammuni- 
tion was nearly exhausted. It is, however, not improbable that 
the Indians had expended all theirs. They could only obtain 
supplies by tedious journeys through the forests to Canada. 1 

Both Messrs. Penhallow and Symmes, the two most authentic 
narrators of the battle, estimate that the Indians lost between 
forty and fifty of their warriors. This is apparently merely con- 
jecture, and is quite incredible. As they were decidedly the 
victors, withdrawing of their own accord, not being driven 
from the field, it is scarcely possible that they could have lost 
more than half of their number. 2 

Solomon Keys received three bullet-wounds, and was appar- 
ently dying. To save his dead body from being mangled by the 
savages, he rolled himself down the beach to a canoe, which 
chanced to be there. Almost senseless he succeeded in creep- 
ing into it. A gentle breeze blew the canoe across the pond 
diagonally, and landed it but a short distance from the stockaded 
fort into which he contrived to creep. 

1 " In going to Quebec it is necessary to take more than a fortnight to reach 
there. They have to furnish themselves with provisions for the journey. They 
have different rivers to pass, and frequent portages to make. The Indians are 
aware of these inconveniences, and are by no means indifferent to their interests. 
But their faith is infinitely more dear to them. They believe, that, if they detach 
themselves from our alliance, they will shortly find themselves without a mission- 
ary, without a sacrifice, and in manifest danger of being plunged into their former 
heathenism. This is the bond which unites them to the French." — Father Basle's 
Letter, found in " Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses." 

2 Penhallow, in his History of the Indian "Wars, represents the number of 
Indians engaged in this conflict, at seventy. Of these he says that forty were 
killed outright, and eighteen were mortally wounded who soon died. This makes 
a total loss, in dead, of fifty-eight. Thus, according to this estimate, twelve only 
escaped with their lives. In every battle there are many wounded, who subse- 
quently recover. Did these twelve escape wounds? or was every Indian either 
killed or wounded? 



324 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



As the sun went down the moon rose, shedding its pale light 
over the gloomy forest. The savages had disappeared, leaving 
solitude and silence to reign over the dismal scene of slaughter. 
It is impossible to account for the fact that they left the dead 
bodies of Capt. Lovewell and his men unscalped. The survivors 
felt that not a moment was to be lost in the attempt to gain the 
fort. There were but twenty-two living. Two of these were 
mortally wounded. They could not be removed. They were 
left to die alone. There was no possible escape for them from 
this cruel fate. They had cause to fear that the savages would 
return and wreak vengeance upon them, in the most direful 
tortures. Eight others were wounded more or less severely ; but 
still they were able to hobble along in the awful midnight 
retreat. There were but twelve unwounded. This heroic band 
had fought all day, without food ; and, half famished, they com- 
menced their painful march. Dreadful was the situation of the 
exhausted, bleeding troops, without food, tents, blankets, or any 
means for dressing a wound. The dead were left unburied, as 
these war-stricken men commenced their retreat. 1 

Chaplain Frye, a dying man, mortally wounded, as we have 
said, toiled along a mile or two, when he threw himself upon the 
ground saying, " I cannot take another step. Here I must die. 
Should you ever, through God's help, reach your homes, tell 
my father, that I expect in a few hours to be in eternity, but 
that I do not fear to die." 2 

All the night long the survivors toiled through the forest, 
expecting every moment to hear the war-whoop of the approach- 
ing savages, who had probably gone to their village for fresh 
supplies of ammunition. Perhaps they found none there ; and 
this may account for their relinquishing the pursuit. In the 

1 Accuracy, in the details of these events, is impossible. The same annalist 
■will often give contradictory statements. Williamson says, " Collecting together 
in the evening, they found that there were ten already dead, nine uninjured, one 
missing, and fourteen -wounded." 

Again he writes, " Twenty of them, leaving the fatal spot, directed their march 
towards the fort. Eight were lame or full of anguish from their wounds." — 
Williamson, vol. ii. p. 132. 

2 This noble young man, who had displayed great heroism, was the son of Capt. 
J ames Frye of Andover, Mass. His amiable and promising character had given 
him many friends ; and he died greatly lamented He had kept a journal of their 
march, which, unfortunately, was lost with him. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



325 



morning the fugitives divided into three bands, hoping thus to 
be able to conceal their trail. Nearly twenty men, walking in 
single file, would leave a track which the eagle-eyed Indian 
could easily discern. 

At length sixteen of them reached the fort, where they had 
hoped to find refreshment and a reserved force. In a direct 
line it was distant from the battle-field but about twenty miles. 
Still by the circuitous route which they took, and encumbered 
by the wounded, several of whom soon died, three or four days 
were spent on the journey. To their bitter disappointment 
they found the fort deserted. It appeared afterwards, that 
when the savages first sprang from their ambush, deafening the 
ear with their hideous yells, one of the Englishmen succeeded 
in escaping. He saw the utter hopelessness of his companions 
surrounded by apparent^ three times their own number. 
Upon reaching the fort, he gave an account, no less true than 
frightful, of the condition of his comrades. Capt. Lovewell 
and several others were already killed. The rest were sur- 
rounded, and were selling their lives as dearly as possible. 

The feeble band, for only the sick had been left behind, ex- 
pecting every moment to hear the yells of the approaching 
savages, precipitately fled. Fortunately they left behind them 
some provisions. The starving fugitives, after a short rest, 
resumed their doleful march. Their sufferings from famine, 
pain, and weariness, cannot be adequately described. Fourteen 
finally reached their homes. 1 Such are the particulars, so far 
as can now be ascertained, of what has been called " Lovewell's 
Victory." 2 A provincial poet of those days commemorated 
the event in verses which at the time obtained much renown, 
and which were pensively sung in many farmhouses. We give 
the three closing stanzas : — 

"Ah! many a wife shall rend her hair, 
And many a child cry ' Woe is me,' 
When messengers the news shall hear 
Of Lovewell's dear-bought victory. 

1 Drake's Book of the Indians, book iii. p. 125. 

2 Mr. Williamson writes, "The battle of Pegwacket broke the heart and spirit 
of the Sokosis natives. In a short time they withdrew, and resided no more in 
those pleasant and ancient dwelling-places, till peace. After this event the star 
of the tribe, pale and declining, gradually settled in darkness." — Vol. ii. p. 141. 



326 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



""With footsteps slow shall travellers go 

Where Lovewell's Pond shines clear and bright, 
And mark the place where those are laid 
Who fell in Lovewell's bloody fight. 

" Old men shall shake their heads, and say, 
' Sad was the hour, and terrible, 
When Lovewell's brave 'gainst Paugus went, 
With fifty men from Dunstable.' " 1 

The wretched state of the country induced the legislature to 
adopt more vigorous measures to bring the war promptly to a 
close. The Indians had greatly dwindled away. Poorly armed, 
and with but scant ammunition, they were much disheartened. 
The loss of a single warrior was, by them, very sensibly felt. 

All the eastern garrisons were strengthened and replenished 
by the government. Liberal pay was offered to volunteers. A 
large number of friendly Indians, from Massachusetts, were 
employed as allies. The Indian hostages, detained in Boston, 
became exceedingly impatient of their restraint. It speaks well 
for them, that one of these hostages, together with a captive 
taken in war, was liberated with permission to visit their tribe 
upon their parole of honor to return ; and they both faithfully 
came back, and surrendered themselves to imprisonment. They 
had been absent two months. They brought back with them 
the following report, so melancholy for them, so encouraging 
for the English : -5— 

" The losses our tribes have met with, and the daily terror they experi- 
ence, causes their lives to be miserable. They long for peace. The 
Indians on the Penobscot are about to propose a negotiation, that the war 
may be brought to a close." 

Again they were permitted to go back to their friends, with 
the stipulation, that within twenty-three days they should 
return with a delegation of chiefs for a peace conference. It 
was supposed that they would aid in urging forward peace 
measures. 

In a former chapter we have given a narrative of the destruc- 
tion of the fort and pleasant little village of the Indians, at Old- 
town, far up the Penobscot. This was in February, 1723. Col. 
Thomas Westbrook led the expedition. In his official report to 

1 Farmer and Moore's Historical Collections, vol. hi. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



327 



Lieut-Gov. Dummer, he wrote, after describing the commodious 
structures which the French and Indians had reared, — 

" We set fire to them all, and by sunrise the next morning they were all 
in ashes. We then returned to our nearest guard, thence to our tents. On 
our arrival at our transports we concluded we must have ascended the river 
about thirty- two miles. " 1 

The Indians, after the retirement of the English, returned to 
the ruins of their former homes. Their losses and sufferings 
were terrible. The foe, against whom they were contending, 
was infinitely their superior. Game in the forests had become 
scarce. With difficulty could they obtain ammunition for hunt- 
ing. It was necessary for them to rear their humble villages 
on the seashore or on the banks of rivers, that by clamming 
and fishing they might lengthen out their miserable existence. 
But here the English could easily come upon them in their 
ships and strong whale-boats. Even if they retired far back 
into the country, and planted their fields with corn, after wait- 
ing half-famished, weary weeks for the harvest, they knew, by 
bitter experience, that energetic English bands would, in all 
probability, pass through the trails of the. forest, lay their vil- 
lage in ashes, and trample their harvest in the dust. 

Their doom was dreadful. It was no wonder that they 
longed for peace. Sadly the returning fugitives wandered 
through the desolations of their former homes, with no heart to 
attempt to rebuild. Oldtown, the site of this Indian village, 
was upon an island of the same name, about twelve miles above 
where Bangor now stands. In the year 1806, the township of 
Orono, previously called Stillwater, was incorporated, including 
the region of Oldtown. It took its name from a celebrated 
Indian chief Orono, of the Tarratine tribe. He was a warm 
friend of the Americans in the war of the Revolution. In the 
year 1840, Oldtown was incorporated as a separate town, 
Orono was the one hundred and sixty-second town incorporated 
in the State, and contained then about three hundred inhabitants. 

The unhappy, despoiled, half-famished savages wandered 
doAvn the western banks of the river, until they came to the 
spot where Bangor now stands, The region was then an un- 

1 Collections of Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. viii. p. 264, 2d ser. ; Hutch- 
inson's History of Massachusetts, vol. ii. p. 273. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



329 



broken wilderness, through which the Kencluskeag River flowed 
silently into the Penobscot. Here they rebuilt their village. 
It is probable that six or seven French families were with them ; 
for seven houses were found with cellars and chimneys. There 
were about fifty Indian huts, indicating, in their structure, a 
people slowly emerging from barbarism. 

Capt. Joseph Heath commanded the garrison at Richmond. 
* He heard of this Indian village, situated but about one hundred 
miles north-east from him, through the trails of the lonely, un- 
inhabited forest. In the month of May, 1725, Capt. Heath 
took a company of men, and marched across the country, from 
the Kennebec to the Penobscot. The Indians heard of his 
approach ; and the whole population, men, women, and children, 
fled into the forest. They could take with them only such 
articles as they carried upon their backs. It is difficult to con- 
ceive how they could have escaped utter starvation. Probably 
many of them did perish of hunger. 

Finding the village deserted, Capt. Heath burned all the 
dwellings, including a commodious church, and destroyed the 
cornfields. His party then returned to Richmond, not having 
caught sight of a single Indian. It was thought by many that 
this was a very injudicious expedition, considering that the 
Indians had already made proposals for a peace conference. 
The village destroyed was situated on what has since been 
called Fort Hill. The Indians never attempted to rebuild upon 
this spot. They subsequently returned to Oldtown, where they 
re-established themselves near the graves of their fathers. 

There was another deed perpetrated by the English, of so 
atrocious a character that no English historian has been willing 
to dwell upon its details. The Indian village on the Penobscot 
was destroyed in May. On the 20th of June a few Indian 
chiefs, with a flag of truce, were approaching Fort St. George, 
at Thomaston, to sue for peace. A detachment from the fort 
attacked them, killing one and severely wounding another. 1 

There was still a third adventure, which, as a descendant from 
the English, one blushes to record. Young Castine, of whom 
we have before spoken, who was ever the friend of peace, and 

1 Williamson's History of Maine, vol. ii. p. 144. 



330 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



who had often attested his magnanimous spirit toward the 
English, was in a small sail-boat, at anchor just off the south- 
east point of the present town of Sedgwick, which was then 
called Naskeag Point. He had on board his boat a lad supposed 
to have been his son, the child of his wife, who was a chieftain's 
daughter, and another boy by the name of Samuel Trask, a 
captive from Salem, whom he had humanely redeemed from the 
Indians. 

He saw an English sloop approaching ; but there was no war 
then between France and England, and Castine had no thought 
of any danger. They were probably fishing. As soon as the 
sloop came within musket-shot the crew opened fire upon him. 
Fortunately none were struck by the bullets. Castine and his 
companions speedily took shelter upon the land. The captain 
of the sloop then raised the white flag, and shouted out to 
Castine, upon the shore, that the firing was a mistake. 

The guileless young man, incapable of treachery himself, 
immediately, with his companions, rowed out to the sloop. As 
soon as they stepped on board the Englishman seized young 
Trask, and turning to Castine said, " Your bark and all it con- 
tains are lawful prize. You yourself are justly my prisoner. 
You may think yourself well off to escape without further 
molestation." 

Castine and his son returned to the shore. Some of the crew 
accompanied them. One of them then seized the lad with a 
firm grasp, apparently intending to kidnap him. Castine, find- 
ing it impossible to extricate the boy, shot the miscreant dead, 
and with his son escaped into the woods. Mr. Williamson 
writes, 1 " The conduct of these mariners was a great reproach 
to them, and in every respect the height of impolicy ; for the 
Indians were now entertaining thoughts of peace, and Castine, 
who still possessed great influence among them, had more than 
once attested his magnanimity by instances of friendship and a 
forbearing spirit towards the English." 

Notwithstanding these occurrences so calculated to exasperate 
the Indians, they still persevered in their endeavors to obtain 

1 Penhallow's Indian War. Collections of NeAY Hampshire Historical Society, 
vol. i. p. 120. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



331 



peace. Thirteen chiefs met two commissioners from Boston, at 
Fort St. George. The commissioners, John Stoddard and John 
Wainwright, were not disposed to be courteous. 

44 Why," they demanded, 44 did you make war upon the set- 
tlers ? " One of the chiefs, speaking in behalf of the rest, 
replied, 44 Because you have taken possession of our lands, even 
as far as Cape Newagen. 1 You also, at that place, seized two 
Indians, and beat them to death." 

44 We did not seize your lands, " was the reply : 44 we bought 
them. We have the deeds which were given us, and can show 
them. If our men did kill "yours it was wrong. But why did 
you not, according to the treaty, appeal to our government ? 
Why did you take the hatchet ? " 

To this the chief replied, 44 We come for peace. We wish to 
recall all our young men from the war." 

The result was that a general council was appointed to meet 
in Boston at the end of forty days. Still there was no peace ; 
only a prospect of peace. Distant war parties, on both sides, 
unaware that negotiations were opening, continued their cruel 
ravages. Early in November four of the most distinguished 
sagamores of the Kennebec, Penobscot, and other eastern In- 
dians, repaired to Boston. The discussion which ensued lasted 
for more than a month. The Indians felt very deeply that 
their hunting-grounds were encroached upon, and that they 
were defrauded of their territory by pretended purchases from 
Indians, who, having become intoxicated, were ready to sign 
any contracts which their betra} r ers might present to them. 

At length the Indians were compelled to relinquish all their 
demands. Hostilities ceased. Professed friendship was estab- 
lished. The English were left in undisputed possession of all 
the land which they claimed as their own. The government of 
Massachusetts was authorized to arrange all the trade and 

1 Boothbay, Lincoln County, is a peninsula situated between the mouths of 
the Sheepscot and the Damariscotta Rivers, and is what was formerly known as 
Cape Xewagen. It is supposed to have been settled as early as 1630. William- 
son speaks of the island of Cape Newagen, about four and a half miles long, aud 
of an average width of one mile, separated from Boothbay by a narrow channel 
called Townsend Gut. See Coolidge and Mansfield's Description of New Eng- 
land, vol. i. p. 59, and Williamson's History of Maine, vol. i. p. 55. 



332 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



intercourse between the two parties. If any Indians declined 
to ratify the treaty, the chiefs in council pledged their tribes to 
join the English, and compel the opposers to submission. 

It was, in fact, an unconditional surrender on the part of the 
Indians. Dire necessity compelled them to yield to the humil- 
iating terms. 1 This celebrated document, since known in his- 
tory as the " Dummer Treaty," was signed on the 15th of 
December, 1725. It continued in force for many years. The 
Indians were too feeble in strength and too broken in spirits to 
venture to violate its terms. 

The General Court immediately established quite extensive 
trading-houses at Fort Richmond, on the Kennebec, and on the 
far away banks of St. George's River, where the flourishing 
village of Thomaston now stands, but which was then almost 
an unbroken wilderness. Goods for Indian traffic were deposited 
there to the amount of three thousand five hundred dollars. 

There were but four sagamores present to sign this treaty. 
It was deemed important that there should be a fuller represen- 
tation of the chiefs of all the tribes. Another meeting was 
appointed. It was held at Falmouth, on the 30th of July, 1T2G. 
Forty chiefs attended. They represented nearly all the Maine, 
Nova Scotia, and the Canada tribes. Man}- of these Indians 
had become Christians. They declined doing business on the 
sabbath day. There were several vessels in the harbor, and 
there were taverns on the shore. 

A large number of Indians had accompanied their chiefs. 
The lieutenant-governors of Massachusetts and New Hamp- 
shire were also attended by quite a brilliant retinuo of soldierly 
young men. All were much impressed by the intelligence and 
high moral qualities manifested hy many of these chiefs. They 
most earnestly requested of the English authorities, that they 
would prohibit the sale of any intoxicating liquors to their 
young men. Lieut.-Gov. Dummer assured them that positive 
orders should be given to that effect. 

After deliberately examining and explaining the treat} T in the 
meeting-house, it was signed, on the part of the English, by 

i Records, Resolves, and Journals of Massachusetts Government, vol. xii. 
p. 88. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



333 



Lieut.-Gov. Dummer and a number of his councillors ; and, on 
the part of the Indians, by Wenemovet, a chief sagamore, and 
twenty-six of his associates. It is said that this treaty may still 
be seen in the government archives at Boston, with all the 
signatures or respective marks of the Indians. 1 

There is no power of law which can restrain individual acts 
of outrage. The most efficient government cannot prevent the 
perpetration of crime. In this respect the influence of the 
Indian chiefs was superior to that of the white man's laws. Still 
there were drunken and vagabond Indians who easily yielded 
to any temptation. 

A fishing vessel from Plymouth entered a forest-encircled 
bay in Nova Scotia. A fellow by the name of John Baptiste 
(we know not whether he was a Frenchman or an Englishman), 
with his son and three Indians, whom he had inveigled into the 
service, endeavored to seize it. Instead of capturing, they were 
all captured. They were taken to Boston, tried for piracy, 
condemned, and all were hanged. There were a few other 
similar acts of outrage. But, when we reflect upon the character 
of the times, it seems surprising that there should have been so 
few. One of the chiefs, by the name of Wenunganet, who 
lived on the River St. George, wrote to Gov. Dummer, — 

" We look upon such Indians as much our enemies as yours. We are in 
as much danger from them as any of your people are. We are resolved to 
punish them for the wrongs which they have done." 

The English traders persisted in selling rum to the Indians. 
Under the influence of intoxication the young men became 
frenzied, and lost all self-control. One of the chiefs, by the 
name of Loron, who seems to have been a very noble man, 
wrote to Gov. Dummer, — 

" Do not let the trading-houses deal in rum. It wastes the health of our 
young men. It makes them behave badly both to your people and to their 
own brethren. This is the opinion of all our chief men. I salute you, 
great governor, and am your good friend." 

1 Penhallow's Indiau "Wars. Collections of the New Hampshire Historical 
Society, vol. i. pp. 128-132. 



334 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Another sachem, Wivurna, wrote to the governor in the fol- 
lowing elevated strain : — 

" My brother, I am fully satisfied; for all the blood that before lay boil- 
ing in my breast has flowed away. I now labor for peace in our land. 
Should any stormy clouds arise, I will immediately inform you, that they 
may do us no harm. In three things you make my heart glad. My grand- 
son, who was to me dead, is alive, and has returned to me safe. Canava, 
who was a captive, has come home alive and well. He is encouraged to do 
good service. I thank you for your kindness to me and to my people. I 
am now old and gray-headed. I have seen many good men, English, French, 
and Indians; but of all I have not found one like Gov. Dummer for stead- 
fastness and justice. Were I a sagamore, and young, the first thing I should 
do would be to see you; but as I am old, and not able to travel, I heartily 
salute you, my good friend. Farewell. " "Wivurna." 

Gov. William Dummer, who had become so prominent, was 
born in Boston, in the year 1677. He went to England, proba- 
bly for his education. There he was appointed, by the crown, 
lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts. This was in 1716. His 
father-in-law, Gov. Joseph Dudley, had just retired from office, 
after a stormy administration of fourteen years. 

Gov. Dummer was a man of irreproachable morals, and of 
firm religious faith. Without possessing any brilliant qualities 
of mind, he manifested sufficient ability for all the great emer- 
gencies which rose before him. His highly eulogistic funeral 
sermon was preached hy the celebrated Rev. Mather Byles. 1 

It is thought that during this war one-third of the four Abe- 
naquis tribes had perished. 2 The war, Penhallow estimates, had 
cost the government a hundred and seventy thousand pounds, 
in addition to the forts, which had been reared and repaired at 
a cost of not less than seventy-five thousand pounds. These 
wretched wars had impoverished the whole land. Every man 
forty years of age had seen twenty years of war. Every boy 
was trained to arms. The scenes of cruelty and blood every- 
where witnessed hardened the heart and brutalized the charac- 

1 See the admirable biographical sketch of the Dummers in the Centennial 
Discourse delivered at Newbury, by N. Cleaveland, Esq. 

2 The Abenaquis inhabited the region between the Piscataqua River and the 
Penobscot. The nation formerly consisted of eleven allied tribes. See Drake's 
Book of the Indians, book hi. p. 91, and Williamson's History of Maine, vol. h. 
p. 464. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



335 



ter. During this last war, about two hundred of the inhabitants 
of Maine were killed or carried into captivity. The anguish 
which was thus sent to many a humble cottage, no tongue can 
tell. 

Some of the captives were put to death by all the demoniac 
inflictions of Indian torture ; some perished from cold, exhaus- 
tion, and hunger : some were never heard of more, and what 
their fate was none can know. 

The Indians were fickle as children. They could be gentle, 
confiding, affectionate, at one moment ; and then, at some sud- 
den exasperation, become cruel as fiends. And yet it was an 
extraordinary and inexplicable trait in their character, that they 
never thus transformed themselves from friends to enemies 
without what they supposed just cause ; and they always gave 
notice of their hostility before striking a blow. The habit of 
giving this warning was invariable. The restoration of peace 
they hailed with undisguised and almost childish delight. We 
now speak of the majority of the Indians, the common people. 
The chiefs were truly the aristoi, the best of the land. They 
were almost invariably intelligent, serious, thoughtful men, whose 
minds were oppressed with the magnitude of the responsibilities 
thrown upon them, as they saw their tribes dwindling away, 
and their hunting-grounds passing to the ownership of strangers. 

Upon the settlement of the terms of peace, they flocked to 
the villages of their former foes, with faces radiant with joy. 
In very many cases the Indians and the white families had been 
well acquainted with each other. They had often met in 
familiar intercourse, called each other by name, and had ap- 
parently cherished for each other sincere friendship. 

The Indians now came rushing back, with smiles and cordial 
greetings, as if totally unconscious of the fiend-like deeds 
which, upon both sides, had been recently perpetrated. 1 There 
was one very noble Indian, by the name of Ambereuse, who 
lived on the banks of Mousom or Mousam River. 2 He was 

1 See some discriminating remarks upon this subject, by Mr. Edward E. Bourne, 
LL.D. in bis excellent History of Wells and Kennebunk, pp. 327, 328. 

2 Mousom Eiver, as Mr. Williamson spells the name, was formerly called Cape 
Porpoise Eiver, or Maguncook. It issued from ponds in Shapleigh, twenty miles 
distant. It was but two and a half miles from Wells. — Williamson, vol. i. p. 27. 



336 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



eminently a man of peace, a " praying Indian," and no persua- 
sions could induce him to engage in the war on either side. 
Through all the bloody conflict he continued to visit the Eng- 
lish, as if peace had never been disturbed. Mr. Sullivan, 
writing of him, says, — 

" There came to Berwick an Indian named Ambereuse, with his wife. 
He said he hated war, and only wanted to live where he could make his 
brooms and his baskets, and live in peace. He remained there for several 
years, and then removed to the Kennebec." 

There were more than two hundred Indians present at the 
conference in Falmouth, when the treaty of the former year 
was confirmed and ratified. Over forty gentlemen composed 
the retinue of the governor. The convention was held beneath 
a spacious tent on Munjoy's Hill. At the close of the con- 
ference, quite a splendid banquet for those times was given 
beneath the canvas of the tent, at the expense of the Massa- 
chusetts government. So large a concourse of people had never 
before been gathered in any of the settlements in Maine. 
Though vessels at anchor in the bay had brought supplies, there 
was such an entire consumption of the articles of food, tha^t 
one of the annalists of that day wrote, " They left us quite 
bare ; and nothing of the country's produce was left, only three 
bushels of corn and some small things." 1 

The three-years' war, thus terminated, was usually called 
Lovewell's War, from the important part he took in its cam- 
paigns. It was carried on by the Indians without any recog- 
nized assistance from the French. There was, at that time, 
settled peace between France and England. Undoubtedly the 
sympathies of the French in Canada were with their long-tried 
friends, the Indians. But they could not take any active part 
in favor of the savages, without violating solemn treaty obliga- 
tions. 

i History of Portland, by William Willis, p. 352. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



THE DOOM OF THE INDIAN. 

French Influence — Governor Dummer — His Wise Policy — The Trading- 
Houses — Life at Falmouth — Governors Burnet and Belcher — Act against 
Duelling — Encroachments of the English — Ocufcience at Falmouth— Gov. 
Shirley — Visit of Whitefield — Council at St. George — The Indians desire 
Peace — Indians refuse to fight their Brethren — The Capture of Louis- 
burg — War Proclaimed against the Indians — Peace — Subsiding Billows — 
New Claims of the English — Fort at Teconnet. 

A SACHEM was asked, " Why are you all so ardently 
attached to the French, from whom } t ou can never receive' 
so much benefit as you may receive from the English ? " 

The chief, after a moment's pause, gravely replied, 44 Because 
the French have taught us to pray unto God ; which the Eng- 
lish never did." 

This question was often asked of the chiefs and of the com- 
mon Indians. Invariably answers were returned essentially the 
same. I give a summary of those answers, made on different 
occasions, but here brought together : — 

" The French are our friends ; they advocate our rights, and become, as^ 
it were, one with us. They sell us whatever we want, and never take away 
our lands. They send the kind missionaries to teach us how to worship the 
Great Spirit ; and, like brothers, they give us good advice when we are in 
trouble. When we trade with them, we have good articles, full weight, and 
free measure. They leave us our goodly rivers, where we catch fine salmon, 
and leave us unmolested to hunt the bear, the moose, and the beaver, where 
our fathers have hunted them. We love our own country, where our fathers- 
were buried, and where we and our children were born. We have our 
rights, as well as the English ; we also know, as well as they, what is just 
and what is unjust. 

22 837 



338 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



1 1 When you English came, we received you with open arms. We thought 
you children of the sun ; we fed you with our best meat. Never did a white 
man go hungry from our cabins. But you returned evil for good. You 
put the burning cup to our lips. It filled our veins with poison. When 
you had intoxicated us, you took the advantage, and cheated us in trade. 
You now tell us that our country is yours, that it has passed from us for- 
ever. 

" You say that you have bought our lands from our sagamores. It is 
not true. Our chiefs love their tribes too well, and have too great souls, to 
tnrn their children from the homes of their fathers. Where can we go ? 
We own no other land. There is no other land so dear to us. The forts 
which you have built on our territory are contrary to treaty ; and they 
ought to be laid low. ' ' 1 

Such were the feelings of the Indians. They were sincere 
and unalterable ; but the utterances were eventually silenced 
by hopeless defeat. Gov. Dummer was anxious to withdraw 
the Indians from their intercourse with the French. Had the 
spirit which animated him prevailed from the beginning, there 
need have been no war whatever with the Indians. 

Gov. William Dummer, an American by birth, had been 
acquainted with the Indians from infancy. For some of 
them he had undoubtedly formed a strong attachment. Many 
of the natives were noble, warm-hearted men. Gov. Dum-- 
mer knew how to sympathize with them in their wrongs. 
The course of conciliatory measures, upon which he ener- 
getically entered, seemed, for a time, almost to obliterate from 
the minds of the Indians the remembrance of their former 
grievances. 

In addition to the trading-houses at Fort George and Fort 
William, he established a third at Fort Mary, near Winter Har- 
bor. Men of established reputation for integrity and discretion 
were appointed to preside at these stations. The most valuable 
articles for Indian use were deposited in each of them, to the 
amount of four or five thousand dollars. The keepers of these 
stores were instructed to sell them at an advance only sufficient 
to cover the prime cost with the freight and waste. Full value 
was allowed for the furs and skins of the Indians. Those who, 



1 "Williamson, vol. ii. p. 113. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



339 



by any calamity, were in want, were assisted by a generous 
charity. 1 

There was no longer any motive to induce the Indians to 
take long journeys to Canada for purposes of trade. Indeed, 
the Canada Indians resorted to the English trading-houses, find- 
ing that they could purchase commodities there better and 
cheaper than either at Quebec or Montreal. 

York and Falmouth were now the principal towns in Maine. 
York was the shire-town, the political centre. Falmouth was 
the commercial emporium. It may be mentioned, in illustra- 
tion of the luxuries in which our ancestors indulged, that the 
only house in town which contained a papered room was the 
parsonage ; and the paper in that house was fastened upon 
the walls by nails, and not by paste. 2 

At one time, in the year 1727, there were thirty vessels riding 
at anchor in the harbor of Falmouth. There were then sixty- 
four families in the town. The number increased, in two years, 
to about two hundred. Rev. Thomas Smith was settled as 
pastor of the church. Brunswick was one of the first towns 
resettled after the desolations of these disastrous wars. Still 
this, like all other settlements, advanced slowly. In 1750 there 
were but twenty families in the place. 

Soon after the accession of George II., he appointed William 
Burnet governor of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. 
He was a very handsome man of imposing stature, and of very 
popular manners. His scholarly tastes, his practical common- 
sense, and his remarkably cheerful disposition, rendered him 
very popular. In the year 1730, Burnet died. Jonathan Bel- 
cher was appointed by the crown to succeed him. He also 
was a native of Boston, a graduate of Harvard College, and the 
son of one of the most opulent merchants. Endowed naturally 
with fine powers of mind, he had travelled extensively abroad ; 
and his naturally graceful manners were much improved by 
intimacy with the best European society. 

One of the first acts which the governor signed was against 

1 Records, Resolves, and Journals of the Massachusetts Government, vol. xii. 
pp 88-512. 

2 History of Portland, by William Willis, p. 364. 



340 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



duelling. By this it was enacted that whosoever should kill 
another in a duel should be hanged ; and that his body, together 
with that of the one he had killed, should be buried without a 
coffin, and that a stake should be driven through them both. 
In the autumn of 1732, the governor made quite an extensive 
tour through the settlements of Maine. In his next address to 
the Massachusetts Legislature, he said, — 

4 ' It gave me surprising pleasure to see so large a part of this Province 
accommodated with fine rivers and harbors, islands and main, capable of 
many and great improvements. The three rivers, St. George's, Kennebec, 
and Saco, are bordered with fine lands full of timber. I cannot but think 
this country will, in time, be equal in every thing to any part of New 
England. ' ' 

To induce emigration to Maine, several townships were sur- 
veyed, and farm lots ot a hundred acres each marked out. One 
of these farms was offered to any man who would within three 
years settle upon it, erecting a house eighteen feet square, 
and who would clear from five to six acres for mowing and 
tillage. 

In the year 1735, the population of Maine probably amounted 
to about nine thousand souls. There were nine towns, and 
several settlements called plantations. About fifteen hundred 
of these inhabitants were in the Sagadahoc region. There were 
about three hundred and seventy men there capable of bearing 
arms. 1 Commerce was reviving. The articles of export were 
fish, fur, and lumber. The forests of Maine were a great store- 
house of wealth. Masts, boards, shingles, and timber were 
shipped in considerable quantities. 

But again the Indians became alarmed. The increasing 
settlements were encroaching upon their territories, and the 
thoughtful men saw clearly that the time was fast approaching 
when they would be driven from all their possessions. The 
English were building new fortifications, and repairing the old 
ones. The sagamores sadly complained of this ; while, at the 
same time, they stated that they were extremely anxious that 
peace should be perpetuated. The subject was referred to a 

1 Summary of British Settlements in North America, by William Douglass, 
vol. i. p 304. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



341 



committee of the Massachusetts Legislature. After conferring 
with the chiefs, they made the following report, which we give 
slightly abbreviated : — 

4 1 The Indians have unquestionably possessory rights to the lands in the 
extensive wilderness where they dwell. This has often been recognized by 
the purchases which have been made. In the year 1694, Madockawando 
ceded to Sir William Phips lands on both sides of the St. George's River, as 
far as the upper falls, but no farther. The chiefs acknowledge that they 
have consented to have English settlements made as far as the falls; and 
they claim that the English have no right to take possession of the lands 
above the falls until they have fairly purchased them." 1 

The report was accepted. A present of five hundred pounds 
was sent from the government, by the hands of the chiefs, to 
the tribe, and they returned to their homes very happy. In the 
year 1737, Brunswick was incorporated, the eleventh town in 
the State. It was originally called Pegypscot, 2 and its first 
inhabitant was Thomas Purchas. In 1735 there were between 
thirty and forty men in the settlement. After the lapse of half 
a century it contained a population of thirteen hundred and 
eighty-seven. 

The governor generally visited Maine every year. He had 
frequent and friendly interviews with the Indians. He was 
deeply impressed with the value of the harbor at Penraquid, 
and repeatedly urged upon the legislature the importance of 
putting it in a better state of defence. He arranged for a con- 
ference with a large delegation of Indians, at Falmouth. The 
meeting took place in the month of Juty, 1732. The governor, 
with a large retinue of gentlemen, took passage from Boston to 
Falmouth in a man-of-war. 3 

Soon after the governor's arrival, about two hundred Indians 

1 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 191. 

2 Mr. Willis spells this name Pejepscot; it is also so spelled by Coolidge and 
Mansfield; but we follow here the orthography of Mr. Williamson, who seems to 
have taken it from the Journal of the House of representatives, p. 23. 

3 Mr. Williamson gives the year 1739 as the date of this council. Mr. Willis 
thinks this a mistake. He writes, "The misa prehension of Mr. Freeman, in re- 
gard to the year, led Williamson into an error in his History of Maine, vol. ii. p. 
201, in assigning to this year a treaty with the Indians at Falmouth. This took 
place in 1732, and there was no conference here or occasion for it in 1739." — Jour- 
nal, of Rev. Thomas Smith, p. 90. 



342 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



came. They were all well clad, seemed friendly, and professed 
the most ardent wishes to perpetuate amicable relations. But 
they brought with them, floating at the head of their canoes, a 
French flag, which excited some suspicions of their sincerity. 
It is, however, not improbable, that as they had no flag of their 
own, and as the English always appeared under their flag, they 
considered this merely as an ornament, which they regarded as 
an accompaniment of their fringes and their plumes. If they 
had meditated treachery, they certainly had too much shrewd- 
ness to commence operations by flaunting an obnoxious banner 
in the eyes of those whom they wished to deceive. 

The Indians encamped on Hog Island. Each morning they 
paddled, in their fleet of canoes, to Munjoy's Hill, where the 
council was held under an immense tent. The signal for the 
meeting was the firing of a gun from a man-of-war in the har- 
bor, and the raising the royal Jack at the maintop. As the 
English objected to the display of the French flag, the Indians 
laid it aside, and raised an English banner at the head of their 
leading canoe. A renowned Penobscot chief, by the name of 
Loron, was the principal captain and speaker of the Indians. 
In accordance with their custom, they brought presents of furs 
as pledges of the sincerity of their speech. A chief by the 
name of Toxus spoke first. Addressing the governor, he 
said, — 

1 1 It is God who has the overruling power over all things. He has brought 
us here at this time. The reason of our coming is our hearty desire for love 
and friendship. As a token of our being glad to see your Excellency, I 
shake hands, and offer these furs as our money." 

The governor urged them to dismiss their French religious 
teachers, and to accept English missionaries in their stead. 
Loron requested a little time to consider the matter. The next 
day, with diplomatic skill which would have honored Talley- 
rand, he replied, — 

" Friend, we have been thinking of what your Excellency said to us yes- 
terday. As to prayers, it was mentioned in the treaty, that there should be 
no dispute about religion. It would be trifling on our part to attempt to 
answer what you have said on that subject. We are too few to enter upon 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



343 



this question, which is a weighty matter. There are other tribes to be con- 
sulted. When we have ascertained their minds, we shall be better able to 
answer you. We had the advice of the other tribes with regard to the 
peace: we therefore think it proper to seek their advice in this affair." 1 

The interview was in all respects cordial and friendly. The 
governor assured them of his good-will, and made them some 
valuable presents. At the close of the council they partook 
together of a public dinner in the tent. 

Gov. Belcher, after a stormy administration of ten years, was 
succeeded as governor of Massachusetts and Maine, by William 
Shirley. About five years before this, in 1734, the town of 
Windham was laid out and settled mainly by a colony from 
Marblehead, Mass. The township consisted of twenty-five 
thousand five hundred acres on the eastern bank of the Pre- 
sumpscot River. Each man had a farm of a hundred and 
twenty acres. There were also sixty-three compact ten-acre 
lots surveyed, that the settlers, for the advantage of protection, 
schools, and religious' privileges, might dwell in something like a 
village. 2 

In the year 1741, the renowned George Whitefield visited 
Maine. He went to York, Wells, Biddeford, Scarborough, Fal- 
mouth, and North Yarmouth, preaching the gospel of salvation 
through faith in an atoning Saviour, with wonderful power. 
Large numbers were influenced to commence a new and better 
life. He was indefatigable in his labors, having been known to 
preach sixteen times, and to travel over those rough roads a 
hundred and seventy miles, in a single week. 

Gov. Shirley was an Englishman by birth, and a lawyer by 
profession. He had resided in Maine six or seven years, and 
had thus become acquainted with the manners of the people. 
His ability and integrity had secured their confidence. England 
and Spain were then fighting each other. By the promise of 
large pay and a share in the booty, between five and six hun- 
dred men were recruited from the Province of Maine, for an 

1 Journal of Eev. Thomas Smith, p. 7G. Mr. Smith was at that time the honored 
pastor of the church in Falmouth. For many years he kept a daily record of 
passing events. 

2 History of Windham, by Thomas Laurens Smith, p. 51. 



344 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



expedition to Cuba. But few of them ever saw their homes 
again. 1 

During this conflict the British commenced impressing inhab- 
itants of Maine, and forcing them on board their men-of-war. 
This infamous course, persisted in, led to the war of 1812. The 
continued encroachments of the settlements in Maine led many 
Indians of the diminishing tribes of the Saco, the Androscog- 
gin, and the Kennebec, to withdraw to the unbroken forests of 
Canada, where they were sure of a cordial welcome from the 
French authorities. 

This excited alarm in Boston. The governor, with a large 
escort from both legislative branches, repaired to St. George's, 
to hold a council with the sagamores of the Etechemin tribes. 
These Indians, as has been mentioned, occupied the country 
between the Penobscot and the St. John, both inclusive. The 
Indians were prompt in their attendance. They came in a large 
fleet of canoes, and entered the harbor, not with the French, 
but with the British flag at the head of their fleet. This would 
seem to indicate that the French flag, under which they had 
previously entered the harbor at Falmouth, was intended merely 
as an ornament, not as a menace. The meeting was harmoni- 
ous. Both parties were exceedingly anxious for peace. But 
the English wanted, and felt that they must have, the lands of 
the Indians. On the other hand, the Indians clung tenaciously 
to the homes of their fathers ; and yet they despairingly felt 
that influences, quite be}'ond their control, were each year driv- 
ing them farther away from their ancient hunting grounds, and 
that, ere long, all their possessions would pass into the hands 
of strangers. 

This was evident alike to both parties. Agitating questions 
which could lead to no good results were avoided. The time 
was passed in the interchange of courtesies ; and the governor 
made valuable presents to the Indians, of powder and shot, and 
of other articles which had become to them necessaries of life. 
It was deemed very important to prevent their applying to the 
^French for such purchases. 

1 Summary of British settlements in North America, by William Douglass, 
vol. i. p. 554. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



345 



On this excursion the governor made a careful examination 
of the country. In his address to the legislature, on his return, 
he said, — 

" The inexhaustible supplies of wood and lumber, and the several kinds 
and great quantities of naval stores which this region is capable of produ- 
cing, no less than the navigable rivers, the numerous harbors, and good soil 
it possesses, render it highly deserving the encouragement and protection of 
government." 

By the census of 1743, it appeared that there were in Maine 
eleven towns, and a probable population of twelve thousand 
inhabitants. The poor Indians were fast dwindling away by 
death and by emigration to Canada. 

The Spanish war raging in Europe drew France into an 
alliance with Spain, against Great Britain. 1 This, of course, 
led to a conflict between the French and English colonists on 
these shores. Each party exerted its utmost endeavors to 
engage the Indians as allies. The French, as was to have 
been expected, were the more successful. Again horrid war 
recommenced its ravages of shrieks, misery, blood, and death. 
The war was commenced by an attack made by the French 
and Indians upon an English settlement at Canseau, in Nova 
Scotia. The French governor of Cape Breton sent several 
armed vessels, with about nine hundred men, and took possession 
of the island. Soon after, three hundred Indians, led, it is said, 
by a French missionary, M. Luttre, attacked Annapolis. They 
laid siege to the place ; but, re-enforcements arriving from Bos- 
ton, they were compelled to retire. 

War is the most expensive of all earthly employments. New 
forts were reared, and the old ones strengthened. A hundred 
and twenty-one men were sent to be distributed to the garrisons 
at Fort George, Pemaquid, Richmond, Brunswick, and Saco. 
Three hundred men were organized into scouts, which parties, 
ever on the move, were generally led by friendly Indian guides. 

1 This famous war for the Austrian succession, commenced by Frederick IT. of 
Prussia, not only drew all Europe into its vortex, but also led French Canadians 
aud English colonists and savage Indians to cutting each other's throats, who had 
not the slightest idea of what they were fighting for. 



346 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Ninety-six barrels of gunpowder were sent to be distributed 
among the towns. 

A delegation was appointed by the governor to visit St. 
George, and ascertain the feelings of the Penobscot Indians. 
They met many of the chiefs in council, and received from 
them the assurance of their continued desire for peace. It was 
decided to commence a vigorous war against the Indians of 
Nova Scotia. The tribes residing in Maine were forbidden, by 
the government of Massachusetts, from holding any intercourse 
with the tribes east of Passamaquoddy Bay. A hundred pounds 
was offered for the scalp of every male Indian over twelve years 
of age. Fifty pounds was offered for that of a child younger 
than twelve, or for that of a woman. 1 

The Indians still continued peaceful. But a vagabond band 
of white men fell upon an unoffending band of Indians on the 
eastern side of St. George's River, killing one, and severely 
wounding others. The government did all in its power to atone 
for this crime. Forty pounds in money, a blanket, and many 
other articles were given to the widow. The wounded were 
furnished with medical aid, and were carefully conveyed to their 
homes on the Penobscot. 

According to the Dummer treaty, the chiefs engaged to join 
fifty of their men to every band of a hundred and fifty of the 
English, raised to subdue any refractory Indians who might 
attempt to disturb the peace. To test the Indians, the English 
now demanded that the sagamores should furnish their quota 
of warriors to march against the tribes in Nova Scotia. This 
demand was made with the not very courteous menace, that, if 
it were not complied with within forty days, the government 
of Massachusetts would declare war against the Indians of 
Maine. 

The sagamores were in great perplexity and distress. Several 
councils were held, and the subject was earnestly discussed. 
The result was, that in January they sent an express to Boston 
to inform the government that they found it impossible to 
induce their young men to take up arms against their brother 
Indians of the St. John. 

1 Summary, by Douglass, p. 320; "Williamson, vol. ii. p. 218. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



347 



For carrying on the war against the French and their allied 
Indians, two regiments were raised in Maine. One, from the 
vicinity of Kittery, consisted of fifteen hundred and sixty-five 
men, under Col. William Pepperell ; the other, of twelve hun- 
dred and ninety men, was formed from the towns adjoining 
Falmouth, and was commanded by Col. Samuel Waldo. 

Louisburg, upon the island of Cape Breton, was one of the 
most important and best fortified of the posts of the French. 
With its ramparts, its ditches, its batteries, one of them mount- 
ing twenty-eight forty-two pounders, it was justly considered 
the Gibraltar of America. The labor of twenty-five years had 
been expended upon these fortifications, and they had cost the 
French crown thirty million livres. 1 It would seem that all the 
English colonies embarked with great enthusiasm in the enter- 
prise of making the conquest of Louisburg. 2 Col. Pepperell, 
with the rank of lieutenant-general, was first in command. 
Though trained to war, he was a devout man. He applied to 
Rev. Mr. Whitefield, then preaching in Maine, for his opinion 
of the enterprise. He replied, — 

" The scheme is not very full of encouragement. The eyes of all will be 
upon you. Should you not meet with success, the widows and orphans will 
utter complaints. Should you be successful, many will look upon you with 
envy, and endeavor to eclipse your glory. You ought, therefore, to go with 
a ' single eye ; ' then you will receive strength proportioned to your neces- 
sities." 

Mr. Whitefield, at the earnest suggestion of Col. Pepperell, 
gave him a motto for his flag. It was " Nil desperandum, 
Christo duce." 3 An army of four thousand men was embarked 
in a fleet of thirteen vessels, besides transports and store-ships. 
The vessels carried two hundred guns. On the 24th of 
March, 1745, the squadron sailed. Before casting anchor in 
the waters of Louisburg, the fleet was joined by ten other 
British ships of war, mounting four hundred and ninety guns. 

1 Haliburton's History of Nova Scotia, vol. i. pp. 98-112. 

2 "All the talk is about the expedition to Louisburg. There is a marvellous 
zeal and concurrence through the whole country with respect to it. Such as the 
like was never seen in this part of the world." — Smith's Journal, p. 116; date Feb. 
11, 1745. 

3 Nothing is to be despaired of, Christ being the leader. 



348 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Early in the morning of the 30th of April, the squadron 
appeared before the doomed city. The men, with the heavy 
guns and ammunition, were landed with scarcely any opposition. 
The assault and the defence were conducted with like bravery 
and skill. For forty-four days the battle raged, with scarcely a 
moment's intermission. We have no space here to enter into 
its details. On the 15th of June, the French capitulated, and 
Louisburg passed into the hands of the English. There were 
four thousand one hundred and thirty inhabitants within the 
defences. Of these, two thousand were able to bear arms. 
According to the terms of the capitulation, they were trans- 
ported to France, where, in the extreme of impoverishment, 
they were left to struggle against life's dire adversities. 

Nine thousand cannon-balls and six hundred bombs were 
thrown into the city before the surrender. During the conflict, 
the English lost a hundred and thirty men, and the French 
three hundred. It now seemed to be inevitable that there was 
to be a fifth Indian war. The refusal of the Indians of Maine 
to march against their brethren in Nova Scotia was considered, 
by the English, as indicative of hostile intentions, and almost 
equivalent to a declaration of hostilities. 

No more trading-masters were appointed, and trade with the 
Indians ceased. Thus they were constrained to resort to the 
French for their supplies. The English made vigorous prepara- 
tions for the conflict. Block-houses were built, ramparts were 
thrown up ; parties were organized as scouts, to be continually 
perambulating the country ; and almost every able-bodied man 
was converted into a soldier. The English were strong ; the 
Indians were weak. The Indians had nothing to hope for from 
the war. The English, who could have no doubt of success in 
contending against so feeble a foe, could add to their territorial 
possessions vast regions of fertile lands which they greatly 
coveted. 

On the 23d of August, 1745, the government of Massachu- 
setts declared war against all the eastern tribes of Maine with- 
out exception. Large bounties were offered for captives or 
scalps. 1 It would seem that the Indians were entirely unpre- 

1 Williamson, p. 240; Smith's Journal, p. 120. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



349 



pared for this outbreak. In terror they abandoned their homes 
to seek the protection of the French. Rev. Mr. Smith, of Fal- 
mouth, in his valuable Journal, writes, under date of Oct. 2, 
1745, that not an Indian had been seen or heard of on the 
eastern frontier, for nearly a month. He says, that, immediately 
upon the announcement of hostilities, they fled away to Canada. 

It was a miserable war. There was no such thing as a battle 
between the English and the Indians. There was no array of 
forces against each other. Scouting parties of the English 
ranged the woods, hunting Indians, as they would hunt wolves 
or bears. Prowling bands of savages killed cattle and swine, 
occasionally burned a house, and shot at the white men when- 
ever they could get a chance to do so unseen. To describe 
these events would only be to repeat what has already been 
recorded. But terror reigned in every lonely farmhouse. Every 
few days the tidings would be heard of some man shot, or some 
family massacred. These reports were often greatly exagge- 
rated. The great desire of the English was to capture Canada. 
Mr. Williamson writes, — 

" In none of the Indian wars were the savages more subtle and inveterate, 
yet in none less cruel. They despaired of laying waste the country, and 
expelling the inhabitants. They rather sought to satiate their revenge upon 
particular individuals or families; to take captives and scalps, for the sake 
of the price or premium paid them therefor by the French, and to satisfy 
their wants by the plunder of houses or slaughter of cattle ; a cow or an ox 
being frequently killed by them, and nothing taken but the tongue." 1 

The English trained furious dogs to chase the Indians, and to 
tear them down, women and children, with bloody fangs. 
Orders were issued for the organization of troops to drive all 
the Indians and the French settlers out of Nova Scotia. 2 Amidst 
these horrors, it is pleasant to record an occasional act of human- 
ity. A few Indians, by stratagem, captured Capt. Jonathan 
Williamson, of Wiscasset. He was one of the most prominent 
men in the settlement. In his capture they were careful not to 
wound him. Two others, whom they might have killed, they 
allowed to escape. He inquired the reasons for this conduct. 

1 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 244. 2 "Williamson, vol. ii. p. 247. 



350 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



" We have been requested," they said, " by the governor of 
Quebec, to secure an intelligent prisoner, who is capable of 
giving information respecting the plans of the English." 

In conducting him through the wilderness to Quebec, they 
treated him with the utmost kindness, liberally sharing with him 
all the provisions they could procure. 1 Winter came, with 
unusual severity, and great depth of snow. Military expeditions 
had engrossed the energies of the people. There was almost a 
famine. The whole civilized world was thrown into commotion 
by this miserable war, commenced by that scourge of humanity, 
Frederick of Prussia. Hundreds of thousands perished on the 
battle-field and in the gloomy hospital. More homes were des- 
olated, and widows and orphans made, than can be numbered. 
There was misery everywhere, happiness nowhere ; and all 
this merely to decide whether one individual or another should 
sit upon the throne of Austria. The imagination could scarcely 
create a more astonishing record of folly and of crime, than the 
history of the human race presents. 

The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, signed Oct. 7, 1748, gave 
peace to the world. Several of the chiefs of the Maine Indians 
met the governor in the council chamber at Boston, on the 23d 
of June, 1749. There was quite a numerous delegation, rep- 
resenting mainly the Kennebec and the Penobscot tribes. One 
of the chiefs, addressing the governor, said, — 

" We speak from our hearts the words of sincerity and truth. We have 
brought with us other credentials than our own hearts. These brothers 
present know that the voice of peace makes the Indians everywhere smile 
and rejoice." 2 

A general council of the chiefs to meet the Massachusetts 
commissioners was appointed to assemble in Falmouth. The 
commissioners, five or six in number, were attended by a mil- 
itary guard of about fifty men. We know not how many 
Indians attended. Nineteen chiefs signed the treaty of peace. 
It was essentially the same as the " Dummer Treaty." It was 
called the " Submission and Agreement " of the tribes. 

When such a storm has been raging over life's ocean, it takes 



1 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 253. 



2 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 268. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



351 



some time for the billows to subside. Vagabond white men 
continued to shoot the Indians. In vain the natives appealed 
to the legal tribunals for redress. " Certain it is, that whenever 
a white person was tried for killing an Indian, even in times of 
profound peace, he was invariably acquitted, it being impossible 
to impanel a jury on which there were not some who had 
suffered by the Indians, either in their persons, families, or 
estates." 1 

Predatory bands of savages from Canada, accustomed to 
plunder, continued for a time their banditti excursions, killing, 
plundering, and burning. " But it was manifest that the in- 
stances of mischief were principally acts of mere revenge com- 
mitted by stragglers and renegadoes, unencouraged probably 
by any tribe. The sagamores of Penobscot, and even of Nor- 
ridgewock, declared that they had no share in the late rupture, 
and expressed strong desires of immediately renewing their 
former trade and connections with the English." 1 

The intelligent Indians could not look upon the continued 
encroachments of the English without anxiety. Though con- 
scious that this could not be prevented by any force of arms 
which they could wield, they made frequent and earnest appeals 
to the government, in vindication of what they deemed their 
rights. Permanent and steadily increasing settlements were 
established at Woolwich, Edgecomb, Bath, Dresden, Bowdoin- 
ham, Topsham, and many other places. Strong fortifications 
were arising at many important points. 

It is supposed that the whole population of Maine, in 1744, 
was from twelve to fifteen thousand. 2 Falmouth was the largest 
town in the Province. The hunting grounds and fishing sites 
of the natives were fast passing from them. Soon after this, 
the English claimed all the land from the Kennebec River east 
to the Sheepscot, and as far up the Kennebec as Norridgewock. 
They were taking possession of the territory, and strengthen- 
ing themselves in it. Gov. Shirley, with several commissioners, 
met a number of the sagamores at Fort Richmond. There is 
something pitiable in the tone of the chief Indian speaker on 
this occasion. He said, — 

i "Williamson, vol. ii. p. 272. 2 Smith's Journal, p. 137. 



352 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



" Here is a river which belongs to us. You have lately built a new gar- 
rison here. We now only ask that you will be contented to go no farther 
up the river than this fort. We live wholly by this land, and live but poorly. 
The Penobscot Indians hunt on one side of us, and the Canada Indians on 
the other. Therefore do not turn us off this land. We are willing that you 
should hold possession of all the lands from this fort downward to the sea." 

The governor exhibited deeds, signed by Indian chiefs, in 
proof that the English had purchased the lands. Ongewasgone 
replied, and without doubt very truthfully, — 

11 1 am an old man, and yet I never heard any of my ancestors say that 
these lands were sold. We do not think that these deeds are false; but we 
apprehend that you got the Indians drunk, and so took advantage of them, 
when you bought the lands." 

At the close of this conference one of the chiefs said, " I 
would add one word more. Our young men are very apt to 
get drunk. We entreat you to give orders to Capt. Lithgow, 
not to let any one of them have any more rum than one quart 
in two days." 1 

The question as to the title to the lands, the English decided 
in their own favor, declaring that they had been deeded to them 
by the Indians. Of course -the Indians felt deeply aggrieved. 
The first town incorporated, within what was called the territory 
of Sagadahoc, was Newcastle, so named from the Duke of New- 
castle, who was secretary of the king, and was deemed friendly 
to the colonies. 

There were increasing dissatisfaction and murmurs with in- 
dividual Indians. It was also asserted that the French were 
endeavoring to incite them to renew hostilities. The most con- 
venient route from Quebec to the eastern provinces of Maine, 
was to follow up the Chaudiere about a hundred miles, then to 
cross the unbroken wilderness through an Indian trail, a dis- 
tance of about fifty miles, to the Kennebec, near the mouth of 
Dead River. This point was about fifty miles above the Indian 
settlement at Norridgewock. It was apprehended that the 
Indians far away upon these upper waters of the river, gather- 
ing from Maine and Canada, and aided by the French, might 

\ Journal of the Rev. Thomas Smith, pp. 153, 154. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



353 



establish a general rendezvous, and make raids upon the lower 
settlements. No such attempt was, however, undertaken, and 
there is no evidence that such was ever contemplated. Subse- 
quent events render it much more probable that the rumor was 
started by designing men, as an excuse for taking possession of 
the lands on the upper waters of the river, by erecting forts. 

The governor ordered six companies to be organized ready to 
march at the shortest notice. He also issued the severe com- 
mand, that, should any Indians of Norridgewock be guilty of 
any mischief, the troops should advance upon their village, 
utterly destroy it, and either kill or capture every member of 
the tribe. 1 The government ordered a very strong fort to be 
built at Teconnet, on the eastern bank of the Kennebec, at the 
junction between that river and the Sebasticook. This was 
making an advance from Fort Richmond, thirty-five miles up 
the river, into the territory which the Indians claimed as their 
own, and from which they had so earnestly entreated that they 
might not be driven. This fort was garrisoned by eight hun- 
dred men. In anticipation of another war with the French and 
Indians, an alliance was formed by the English with the 
Mohawks, the fiercest warriors on the continent. 

The great and terrible struggle was approaching between the 
two most powerful kingdoms on the globe, France and England, 
for the possession of this continent. France was beginning to 
rear her forts from the Lakes, to New Orleans, intending to 'hold 
control of the majestic valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi, 
and to shut up the English upon the narrow border east of the 
Alleghanies. England was resolved to drive the French from 
Canada, and to take possession of the whole country. In the 
awful conflict which ensued, not only the poor Indians were 
doomed to be crushed, but thousands of humble European emi- 
grants suffered woes the very recital of which tortures the soul. 

i History of Maine, by William Williamson, vol. ii. p. 297. 
23 



CHAPTER XX. 



THE OLD FRENCH WAR, AND THE "WAR OF THE REVOLUTION 

COMMENCED. 

The Upper Kennebec explored — New Forts built — War with the Indians 
Renewed — English Atrocities — War between France and England — Feeble- 
ness of the Indians — Incorporation of Towns — Efforts of England to En- 
slave America — The Stamp Act — The Tea Tax — Battle of Lexington — 
Patriotism of the People of Maine — Scenes in Falmouth — Visit of the 
British Sloop-of-War — Capture of Capt. Mowatt — His Threats. 

IPlVE hundred troops were sent up the Kennebec River to 



J- explore the carrying-places between that river and the 
Chaudiere. It was ascertained that no fort had been attempted 
in that region, by either the French or the Indians. The site 
selected by the English for the new fort was beautiful. It was 
three-quarters of a mile below Teconnet Falls. It was built of 
solid timber, twenty feet in height, and sufficiently capacious to 
accommodate a garrison of four hundred men. The name given 
this structure was Fort Halifax. 

Two other forts, quite similar in strength, were built farther 
down the river, each of them on the eastern side. One was at 
Cushnoc, 1 now Augusta, near the eastern end of the present 
bridge. They gave it the name of Fort Western. The other 
was about a mile above the northern end of Swan Island. It 
was called Fort Shirley. 2 From Fort Western to Fort Halifax 
was a distance of eighteen miles, through a pathless and unin- 
habited wilderness. The governor ordered a road to be cut 
through the forest suitable for wheel carriages. Arrangements 

1 This name is sometimes spelled Cushenoc. 

2 As this was situated in the plantation of Frankfort, it was sometimes called 
Fort Frankfort. 

354 




THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



355 



were also made, so that an express might be sent, by means of 
whale-boats and videttes, from Falmouth to Fort Halifax, in 
twenty-four hours. 

On the 6th of November, 1754, couriers reached Falmouth 
with the tidings that a band of Indians had assailed some men 
from the garrison of Fort Halifax, who were cutting timber, 
and killed one man, and carried away four others as captives. 
Also a rumor had reached the fort, that five hundred French 
and Indians were about to march from Quebec to make an 
attack upon the fort. A re-enforcement of a hundred men was 
immediately sent to strengthen the garrison. Six companies of 
minute-men, in Maine, were ordered to be ready to march at 
the shortest notice. 

It soon appeared that this hostile outbreak was perpetrated 
by the Canada Indians of St. Francois. 1 Public opinion was 
greatly aroused against these Indians. Many demanded that 
they should be utterly exterminated. A hundred pounds was 
offered by the General Court, for the scalp of any one of them, 
and ten pounds more for an Indian taken alive. There were 
mutual recriminations and retaliations by which France and 
England gradually drifted into the deplorable " French war," 
without war having been formally declared by either party. 
Awful tragedies ensued, which could scarcely have been exceeded 
in Pandemonium. 

We have no space here to enter into the details of the conflict. 
We can only briefly allude to the events which transpired in 
Maine. The most awful scenes of distress were witnessed. 
The civilized combatants, in their rage, proved that savages 
could not exceed them in cruelty. Several months lapsed before 
there were any acts of violence in Maine. It is very evident 

1 It will be remembered that the governor of Canada had invited the fragments 
of tribes, broken by war, to settle on lands which he had assigned to them on the 
two small tributaries of the St. Lawrence, Besancourt and St. Frangois. Here they 
were aided in building their houses. A church and a parsonage were erected, 
and a missionary and interpreter furnished them. They were called the St. Fran- 
gois Indians, and were, of course, entirely devoted to the French, who had treated 
them with such brotherly kindness. — Williamson, vol. ii. p. 40; Jeffrey's Histoi*yof 
the French Dominions, p. 9; Topographical Description of Canada, by Joseph Bon- 
chette, p. G7. 



356 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



that the Indians there were exceedingly reluctant to be drawn 
into the war. During the summer of 1755, five or six men, in 
different localities, were shot, several houses were burned, and 
eight men were carried in captivity to Canada. It is probable 
that all this was done by straggling bands from Canada ; still 
on the 11th of June, 1754, the General Court, in retaliation for 
these acts, declared war against all the Indians in Maine, except- 
ing those on the Penobscot. Two hundred pounds were offered 
to volunteers for every Indian scalp. It was known that the 
feeble and disheartened Indians could make no show of battle. 
They were to be hunted down like bears and wolves. The 
Indians were struck with dismay. " They retired back," writes 
Mr. Williamson ; " and we hear, after this, of no more mischief 
perpetrated by them this season, on our frontiers." 1 

As a general rule, the English settlers hated the Indians, and 
were anxious to get entirely rid of them. They made but little 
distinction between friends and enemies. If a Canadian Indian 
engaged in any act of aggression, the English were prompt to 
take vengeance upon any Indians they might chance to meet, 
no matter how inoffensive in conduct or how friendly in heart. 

Capt. James Cargill, of Newcastle, was commissioned to raise 
a scouting company. He chanced to meet a band of Indian 
hunters, peaceful men, who had no thought of any hostile act. 
He shot down twelve, and took their scalps. They were worth 
to him and his party two thousand four hundred pounds. Soon 
after they met a friendly Indian woman, Margaret ; she was 
well known, and was returning from a visit to the garrison, with 
her babe in her arms. They shot her down. With dying breath 
she entreated them to protect her child. They killed the babe 
before its mother's eyes. 2 

Cargill was apprehended for murder : as usual, no verdict 
could be found against him, though there was no denial of 
the facts ; but there were many good men whose hearts were 
filled with grief by such atrocities. The General Court offered 
all the Indians who would enlist in the public service, the same 
pay as other soldiers had. Nine of the chiefs were invited into 

1 "Williamson, vol. ii. p. 312. 
. 2 Eaton's Narrative, pp. 12, 13, as quoted by Mr. Williamson, vol. ii. p. 315. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



357 



St. George's Fort to confer upon this matter. They were all 
seized as prisoners, and were assured that they would not be 
liberated until they enlisted. Dreadful was their embarrass- 
ment. The Canadian Indians were their friends and brethren. 
The French had ever treated them with the utmost kindness ; 
and yet they were informed, that, unless they would enlist to 
fight these their friends, a war of extermination would be waged 
against them. On the 5th of November war was declared 
against this Penobscot tribe, and large premiums were offered 
for their scalps. 1 

It was not until June, 1756, that England published a declar- 
ation of war against France. Gov. Shirley, whose administra- 
tion had lasted sixteen years, became very unpopular, and was 
withdrawn. Several months passed before a successor was ap- 
pointed. The Indians, goaded to desperation, on the 24th of 
March, 1756, killed two men and wounded a third, near Fort 
George's. On the 3d of May one man was shot in Harpswell, 
and two escaped by flight. There were but three Indians, who, 
in ambush, attacked these three well-armed white men. They 
carried their captive to Canada, where, in about a year, he 
obtained his liberty. On the 14th of May two men, in Wind- 
ham, were shot and scalped by a party of Indians in ambush. 
One Indian was shot and another wounded. At the head of 
Arrowsic Island, in Georgetown, Mr. Preble and his wife were 
killed, as they were planting corn, and their three children were 
carried to Canada. 

The Indians treated these little orphans with great tenderness, 
carrying them upon their backs when they were fatigued, and 
sharing liberally their food with them. These children became 
so much attached to their Indian parents that they wept bitterly 
when, being ransomed, they were taken from them to be restored 
to civilized life. Their mother's father, Capt. Harnolen, of 
Woolwich, went to Canada for them, and such is his testimony 
respecting their treatment. At Fort Halifax two men fishing 
were shot and mortally wounded. 

Such was the character of this needless war. Though but 



1 Journal of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, vol. ix. p. 248. 



358 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



few in Maine were killed, the alarm was universal. The lonely 
settlers did not dare to cultivate their fields. No one could 
move from his house without danger of being shot at. The 
Indians were despondent. Gloom was everywhere. There was 
famine in the land. To add to the woes, the small-pox broke 
out, and raged in garrison, cabin, and wigwam. The Penobscot 
Indians, who had been so ruthlessly assailed, appealed in piteous 
tones for peace, to Capt. Bradbuiy, who commanded the garri- 
son at St. George's. Very truthfully does Mr. Williamson 
write, — 

" No other eastern tribe had treated the English with so much forbearance 
and honor. And the good man's heart must be touched with sympathy for 
their melancholy condition, when he reflects, that, in the present war upon 
them, our own people were the first and principal aggressors." 1 

The Indians were deemed so powerless, that, during the year 
1757, only two hundred and sixty men were employed to hunt 
them down, besides those in garrison. Early in June, Mrs. Hall, 
a lady of remarkable beauty and many accomplishments, was 
captured, with her children, after her husband had been killed. 
They were carried to Canada, where they were separated. Mrs. 
Hall was eventually ransomed. But this unhappy woman, not- 
withstanding her lifelong endeavors, could never obtain the 
least knowledge of the fate of her children. 

It was difficult to find the Indians. They very generally 
abandoned the frontiers. In 1758 Harpswell was incorporated. 
Its atmosphere was even then deemed so salubrious that it was 
resorted to by the sick. There were, during this year, only two 
or three acts of violence, on the part of the Indians in Maine. 
In other portions of our extensive country, the struggle between 
France and England raged with great violence. In August an 
attempt was made by a party of French and Indians from Can- 
ada, upon Fort St. George's. It is estimated that the band con- 
sisted of about four hundred. Re-enforcements were promptly 
sent to the place, and the assailants were driven off after butcher- 
ing about sixty cattle in the vicinity. Soon after an attack was 



1 "Williamson, vol. ii. p. 324. 



TEE BISTORT OF MAINE. 



359 



made upon Meduncook, now Friendship, where eight men were 
either killed or captured. 

" These," writes Mr. Williamson, " so far as our knowledge 
extends, closed the scenes of massacre, plunder, and outrage 
by the Indians, during the present war and forever." 1 

During the next year, Quebec, Ticonderoga, Niagara, and 
Crown Point fell before the valor of British armies ; and the 
banners of France, not long after this, were driven from this 
continent. 2 It was a great achievement ; but it was accom- 
plished through woes to humanity which no tongue can ade- 
quately tell. 

The Indians were no longer to be feared. A military force 
was sent to Penobscot to take possession of that magnificent 
valley. A site was selected for a fort, about three leagues below 
Orphan Island, in the present town of Prospect. It was both 
fort and trading-house. Though the Indian tribes were greatly 
broken, and were crumbling to decay, there were still many 
thousand Indians in that region, eager to sell their furs for the 
commodities which the English offered in exchange. A gentle- 
man who visited the fort soon after its erection, wrote, " I have 
seen one of its rooms as full as it could be well stowed, with the 
first quality of furs, beaver, otter, and sable." 

The structure was called Fort Pownal. It cost five thousand 
pounds, and was garrisoned by a hundred men. The governor, 
in his message to the legislature, said that he had taken military 
possession of a large and fine country, which had long been a 
den for savages, and a lurking-place for renegado Frenchmen. 
In October, 1759, the plantation of Nequasset, sometimes called 
Nauseag, was erected into a town, by the name of Woolwich. 
The Indians were compelled to confess their rebellion, and that 
consequently they had forfeited all their lands, and to take the 
oath of allegiance to the king of England. The once powerful 
Penobscot tribe had dwindled to five chiefs, seventy-five warriors, 
and five hundred souls. The English granted the Indians per- 
mission to hunt through the unoccupied forests, and to rear their 
villages upon such spots as might be assigned to them. 

1 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 333. 

2 Quebec, the capital of New France, capitulated on the 5th of October, 1759. 
»- Smollett, vol. iii. p. 475. 



360 



THE BISTORT OF MAINE. 



At this time nearly all the houses at St. George's River were 
of logs. They were very humble structures. Nine were built 
in one day. It was twenty miles to the nearest mill. There 
were no carts or cart-roads. Bears and wolves were numerous 
in the forests. Moose and deer were abundant. At one time, 
when the snow was deep and covered with a crust, seventy 
moose were taken in one winter. 

On the 13th of February, 1760, Pownalborough was chartered 
as a township. It embraced the three present towns of Dres- 
den, Wiscasset, and Alna, and also Swan Island. Two new 
counties, Cumberland and Lincoln, were also established. 1 Upon 
the retirement of Gov. Pownal this year, Thomas Hutchinson, 
a graduate of Harvard, was placed in the gubernatorial chair. 
From a valuation taken in the year 1761, it is estimated that 
the population of the State then amounted to about seventeen 
thousand five hundred souls. 

Sir Francis Bernard was soon appointed governor by the 
crown. Maine was then regarded as a remote but important 
district of Massachusetts. The new governor was an English- 
man by birth, a graduate of Oxford University, and a thorough 
aristocrat. » In heart he was probably strongly opposed to the 
republican views prevailing in the colonies, and his great desire 
was to increase the ascendancy of the crown. He became 
unpopular from his evident efforts to curtail the influence of the 
people. The rich valley of the Penobscot was fast drawing 
settlers. The General Court made Gov. Bernard a present of 
the far-famed island Mount Desert. It is said that this gift was 
probably intended to secure his influence with the crown in 
obtaining its consent to the establishment of thirteen townships 
in the Penobscot region. These townships would send represen- 
tatives to the General Court. This would increase the popular 
power. The governor had therefore opposed the measure. 

There was still an immense amount of ungranted land in the 
eastern portion of the State. Commissioners were appointed to 

1 There were consequently, at this time, three counties. York contained eight 
towns, Cumberland seven, and Lincoln five. There were perhaps as many more 
•small and scattered settlements, called plantations. The Keck, now Portland, 
contained a hundred and thirty-six dwelling-houses. —Smith's Journal, p. 74. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



361 



run the dividing line between Maine and Nova Scotia. In 1762 
Windham, Buxton, and Bowdoinham were incorporated. This 
last town was named in honor of Dr. Peter Bowdoin, a Protes- 
tant, who had fled from France after the revocation of the Edict 
of Nantes. On the 10th of February, 1763, a general treaty 
of peace was signed at Paris, between France and England. 
France renounced to Great Britain all her northern dominions 
in America. At this time there was not a settler in the valley 
of the Penobscot above Orphan Island. 

The Indians were no more successful than the English in pre- 
venting acts of murder and robbery on the part of lawless vaga- 
bonds. An Indian was hunting and trapping near Fort Pownal. 
Four Englishmen killed him, and stole his traps and furs. The 
villany escaped unpunished, and the Indians attempted no 
revenge. There were several such cases which the Indians bore 
with wonderful forbearance. 

This year the census was taken, but it is thought not very 
accurately. According to the report made, there remained but 
thirty warriors of the Norridgewock tribe, sixty of the Penob- 
scot, and thirty of the Passamaquoddy Indians. The whole pop- 
ulation of Maine amounted to about twenty-four thousand. 

In the year 1761, three plantations of considerable note, 
Topsham, Gorham, and Boothbay, were incorporated. Tops- 
ham was named from a town in England ; Gorham was so called 
in honor of Capt. John Gorham, a revered ancestor of one of 
the grantees. The first settler in that plantation was Capt. 
John Phinney, who reared his lonely cabin in that wilderness 
in the year 1731. Boothbay was the ancient Cape Newagen 
settlement. The plantation was settled in the year 1630, soon 
after the first adventurers landed at Pemaquid. A century of 
earth's crimes and woes had since passed away, and dreadful 
were the ravages those settlers had experienced during the 
Indian wars. 

The next year two more towns were incorporated, Bristol 
and Cape Elizabeth. These were the twenty-second and 
twenty-third towns of the district of Maine. Bristol embraced 
the ancient and renowned Pemaquid. A settlement was com- 
menced here as early as 1626. The name was given from the 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



363 



city of Bristol in England. Cape Elizabeth was taken from 
the old town of Falmouth. The first inhabitants settled upon 
a neck of land to which we often have had occasion to refer as 
Purpooduck Point. Nearly all the inhabitants of the place 
were, at one time, massacred by the Indians. 

On the eastern side of Salmon Falls River, above Berwick, 
there had long been a plantation of considerable note, called by 
its Indian name, Tow-woh. In the year 1767, it was incorporated 
as a town, by the name of Lebanon- The tide of emigration 
was flowing rapidly towards the fertile and beautiful banks of 
the Kennebec. In the year 1771, four towns were incorporated 
upon that river, embracing an area of three hundred and twenty- 
five square miles. These were Hallo well, Vassalborough, Wins- 
low, and Winthrop. They constituted the twenty -sixth, twenty- 
seventh, twenty-eighth, and twenty -ninth corporate towns of 
the State. 

Hallowell was so called from a distinguished English family 
of that name. It embraced the present territory of Augusta. 
There had been occasional inhabitants in this region, which w r as 
called Cushnoc and the Hook for more than a hundred years. 
Vassalborough, which then included also Sidney, was named 
from the Hon. William Vassal, a prominent citizen of Mass- 
achusetts. 

Winslow was also incorporated this year, including the present 
town of Waterville. Here was the famous Teconnet of the 
Indians ; and it was at this point, on the neck of land formed by 
the union of the Sebasticook and the Kennebec, that Fort Hali- 
fax was reared. As early as 1754, eleven families built their 
cabins at this frontier fort in the wilderness. 

Winthrop also was incorporated, embracing territory which 
was subsequently set apart as Readfield. The territorial plan- 
tation established here was called the Pond Town Plantation. 
There were forty-four lakes of rare beauty, within limits now 
comprising Winthrop, Readfield, and a part of Wayne. It is a 
beautiful region, commanding sites for villas, as the country 
shall increase in wealth and population, which perhaps no por- 
tion of our extensive domain can surpass. This beautiful chain 
of lakes was the great water-course over which the canoes of 



364 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



the Indians were paddled as they passed from the Kennebec to 
the Androscoggin. 1 

On the shores of these lakes, the Indians, with a high appre- 
ciation of landscape beauty, reared their villages. One of these 
lakes, Cobbosseconte, is twelve miles long and two wide. The 
outlet of these lovely sheets of water is into the Kennebec, at 
what is now Gardiner, by a stream which the Indians called 
Cobbossecontecook. All the names the Indians gave appear to 
have had some particular significance. It is said that Cobbosse 
meant sturgeon, conte, abundance of, and cook, place. 2 

In the year 1764, Timothy Foster, with his wife and ten chil- 
dren, wandered through the trails of the forest to the margin 
of Cobbosseconte Lake. Here he reared his log cabin, and 
obtained what he probably considered an abundant and luxuri- 
ous livelihood, by hunting, fishing, trapping, and cultivating a 
small patch of corn. The farm granted him by the proprietors 
was a hundred rods on the shore of the lake, running back a 
mile. The conditions were simply that he should build a house 
twenty feet square and ten feet stud, should reside, himself or 
heirs, on the premises three years, and clear five acres of land 
fit for tillage. 

The thirtieth town in the State, Pepperellborough, was incor- 
porated in the year 1772. It was formed by cutting off a sec- 
tion from Biddeford, and was named in honor of William 
Pepperell. 3 After bearing that name for thirty-seven years, it 

1 "The late Dr. Benjamin Vaughan of Hallo well, an early settler there, 
formerly a member of the British Parliament, hut obliged to flee from En gland 
because of his sympathy for and interest in the American colonies, was accus- 
tomed to take his distinguished visitors to Winthrop. He would come by the 
charming view of Cobbosseconte Lake at East Winthrop, over the old Meeting- 
House Hill, and return by the Narrows Pond; and he often said this ride gave 
him the most interesting scenery in New England." — Historic Address by the Hon. 
S. P. Benson, p. 33. 

2 Collections of Maine Historical Society, vol. iv. p. 113. For a more' minute 
description of this lovely region and its early settlement, see the admirable his- 
torical discourse of the Hon. Samuel P. Benson, one of the most illustrious of the 
sons of Winthrop, given at the centennial celebration of the first town-meeting 
held in the place. 

3 "William Pepperell was, at this time (1739), colonel-commandant of the 
Yorkshire Regiment; a gentleman whose moral worth and military talents had 
already given him an elevateu rank in the confidence of the public." — William- 
son, vol. iv. p. 200. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



365 



was changed to Saco, which, by a gradual growth, has become 
one of the most important towns in the State. 

Governor Hutchinson became a vigilant and unscrupulous 
advocate of unlimited prerogative in behalf of the crown of 
England. The colonies were now in peace and comparatively 
rich and prosperous. The great object of the English Govern- 
ment was to gather all the reins of power into its own hands, to 
tax the people in every adroit way in which it could be done 
without raising too loud a clamor, and to thwart the colonists in 
all their endeavors to secure popular rights. The tyrannical 
government claimed the right of appointing the governors, of 
removing the judges at will, of framing the laws, and of 
imposing taxes at its pleasure ; while, at the same time, the 
right was denied the Americans of being represented in parlia- 
ment. 

The detail of these encroachments, which gradually brought 
the Americans and the English into battle array against each 
other, belongs rather to the general history of the United States 
than to that of Maine. To overawe the people, a fleet of war- 
ships entered Boston Harbor on the 28th of September, 1768. 
Under cover of its guns, seven hundred British regulars were 
landed, and with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets, marched 
through the streets to an encampment on the common. Gen. 
Thomas Gage was placed in command, with orders to enforce, 
by bullet and bayonet if necessary, all the requisitions of the 
ministry. 

The blood of the Bostonians, and of nearly all the American 
people, almost boiled with indignation. There were but little 
more than two millions of white people scattered along the 
coast for hundreds of leagues of this New World. The most 
powerful empire then upon the globe, and, if we consider the 
destructive enginery of war in their hands, we may say the 
most powerful empire that ever existed, was rousing all its 
energies of fleets and armies to crush out the liberties of these 
feeble colonies. For such an infant David to venture to engage 
in battle with such a gigantic Goliath, was the bravest, perhaps 
we should say the most reckless measure, ever undertaken on 
earth. 



366 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



' The king of England, by an act of parliament, " for the bet- 
ter regulation of the government of the province of Massachu- 
setts Bay," appointed the governor. This governor, thus en- 
tirely at the disposal of the king, appointed the justices of the 
supreme court and the sheriffs. Jurors were no longer to be 
appointed by freeholders, but by the sheriffs. By this law the 
king was placed in absolute control. 1 In apprehension that the 
people might resist the soldiery, and be defended by the colonial 
courts, a law was passed that, if any one were indicted for cap- 
ital offence, he might be sent to England for trial. 

The people began to meet in conventions, pass resolutions of 
remonstrance, petition for redress, and to organize for resistance, 
should circumstances compel a resort to that dire extremity. 
There were here and there various acts of violence, but no 
serious conflict until the battle of Lexington roused the whole 
country to arms. 

The little village of Lexington was situated about twelve 
miles north-west of Boston. A few straggling houses partially 
surrounded a small unfenced green, or common. Here the 
meeting-house and public tavern stood, forming, with a few 
other houses, one of the boundaries of the common. Near this 
green the road divides. The left branch, still bearing to the 
north-west, leads to the village of Concord, about six miles 
farther on. Here, about eighteen miles from Boston, the Ameri- 
cans had deposited some provisions and military stores. 

Gen. Gage sent out a detachment of from eight hundred to a 
thousand regular soldiers, secretly and at midnight, to seize and 
destroy them. It was the night of the 18th of April, 1775, 
when the troops, in boats, crossed the Charles River, and, in 
the darkness, commenced a rapid march toward Concord. 
Every precaution had been adopted by Gen. Gage, to prevent 
any intelligence of the movement from spreading into the 
country. He hoped to take the place by surprise, to destroy 
the stores, and to return to Boston before any resistance could 
be organized. 2 

1 Ancient Charters, p. 785. 

2 See account of the expedition, by Frederic Hudson, in Harper's Magazine, 
vol. i. ; also History of the Battle at Lexington, hy Elias Phinney. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



367 



In Boston there were stationed ten regiments of veteran British 
troops ; and several men-of-war rode at anchor in the harbor. 
Notwithstanding all the efforts for secrecy, vigilant eyes watched 
every measure of the arrogant, insulting, detested soldiery. In 
addition to many other watchful ones, Paul Revere had arranged 
with a friend, to signal any important movement. He had a fleet 
horse on the other side of the river, with which he could speedily 
spread the alarm. Mr. Longfellow, our own poet, a native of 
Portland, Me., has given deathless renown to this midnight ride, 
in his own glowing verse, — 

" Listen, my children, and you shall hear 
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, 
On the eighteenth of April in seventy-five : 
Hardly a man is now alive 
Who remembereth that day and year. 
He said to his friend, ' If the British march, 
By land or sea, from the town to-night, 
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch 
Of the North Church tower as a signal light, — 
One if by land, and two if by sea, — 
And I on the opposite shore will be, 
Ready to ride, and spread the alarm, 
Through every Middlesex village and farm, 
For the country folk to be up and to arm. ' " 

The signal appeared. Revere mounted his horse, and galloped 
along the road to Lexington, shouting the alarm to every family 
as he passed. In almost every dwelling there were minute-men, 
with guns and ammunition, ready to rush forth at the first warn- 
ing. Hancock and Adams were both at Lexington. One object 
of the British expedition was to capture them. 

Revere reached Lexington. The village was roused. The 
alarm spread like wild-fire. A small group of men, with their 
guns in their hands, pallid not with fear, but with intensity of 
emotion, gathered in the gloom upon the green, to decide what 
to do in the terrible emergence. There were but between sixty 
and seventy present. The report was, that there were between 
twelve and fifteen hundred disciplined, thoroughly armed British 
regulars approaching under the command of experienced gen- 



368 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



erals, who had obtained renown in the wars of Europe. Of 
course a forcible resistance was not to be thought of. 1 

In the mean time the alarm was spreading from farmhouse to 
farmhouse in all directions. The village church bells were 
rung, signal guns were fired, and there was mustering in " hot 
haste." The British troops marched rapidly, arresting any person 
they encountered by the way. A little before five o'clock, the 
solid column appeared but a few rods from Lexington Green, 
marching at double-quick time. Seeing dimly the unformed 
group of Americans upon the green, they halted for a moment, 
doubled their ranks, and then rushed on. Quietly and with no 
signs of resistance the Americans awaited the approach of the 
troops. No war had been declared. The Americans had been 
guilty of no act of violence. They supposed that the British 
were on the march to seize the stores in Concord. Still even 
this was uncertain, and they waited to learn what were the in- 
tentions and the will of the hostile band. 

The troops came along upon the run. When within a few 
rods their commander, Lieut. -Col. Smith, shouted, 44 Lay down 
your arms and disperse, you damned rebels ! " Then, turning to 
his men, he exclaimed, 44 Rush on, my boys ! Fire ! " 

It was a mean and cowardly act, to order at least eight 
hundred soldiers to fire upon a confused group of farmers, 
amounting to not more than seventy at the most. Even the 
British troops recoiled from such shameful butchery, and with- 
held their fire. The inf urate colonel discharged his pistol at 
the Americans, and, brandishing his sword like a maniac, again 
shouted, 44 Fire ! God damn you, fire ! " At this second summons 
the soldiers in the first platoon discharged their muskets, but 
took care to throw their bullets over the heads of those whom 
they seemed to be assailing. 

i At the same time that Paul Revere commenced his midnight ride, Ebenezer 
Dorr rode over the Neck, disguised as a farmer, with a flapped hat and scantily 
filled saddle-bags. He bore the following despatch from Gen. Warren to Hancock 
and Adams: — 

"A large body of the king's troops, supposed to be a brigade of about twelve 
hundred to fifteen hundred, were embarked in boats from Boston, and have gone 
over to laud on Lechmere's Point, so called, in Cambridge ; and it is suspected 
that they are ordered to seize and destroy the stores belonging to the colony 
deposited at Concord." 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



369 



The Americans thought that this was done to frighten them, 
and that the muskets of the English were loaded only with 
powder. They therefore remained calmly at their post, neither 
running away in panic, nor returning the fire. The troops now 
discharged a volley in earnest. Eight of the Americans fell 
dead, and ten were wounded. A few guns were discharged at 
the English, as the panic-stricken Americans fled in all direc- 
tions. John Parker fell wounded. He fired his gun at the foe, 
and was again loading it when a British soldier ran him through 
with the bayonet. Resistance was hopeless, but a few others 
discharged their guns as they fled, or lay wounded on the 
ground. The English continued to fire so long as a single re- 
treating American could be seen within gun-shot. 1 

Thus was the dreadful war of the American Revolution 
ushered in. History records many atrocious crimes perpetrated 
by the government of Great Britain ; but, among them all, 
perhaps there is no one more unnatural, cruel, and criminal than 
this endeavor to rivet the chains of despotism upon her own sons 
and daughters, who were struggling against the hardships of the 
wilderness, and who had come to these solitudes that they might 
enjoy civil and religious liberty. There were thousands of the 
noblest men in England who detested these infamous measures, 
and who remonstrated against them with the utmost vehemence. 
Lord Chatham on the floor of Parliament exclaimed, in words 
we have already quoted, " Were I an American, as I am an 
Englishman, I would never lay down my arms, — never, never, 
never ! " 

The English suffered but little from the few bullets which 
were thrown at them in return. One man was shot through the 
leg, and one was wounded in the hand. The verdict which the 
civilized world has pronounced upon this attack is, that it was 
a cold-blooded and cowardly massacre. In the dreadful struggle 
which ensued, our unhappy land was doomed to woes, inflicted 
by what was called the mother country, far exceeding any 

1 There is some diversity in the details which are given of this conflict ; but 
the general facts, as given above, are beyond all dispute. There were probably on 
the green at Lexington fifty or sixty farmers with muskets, and thirty or forty 
unarmed spectators. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



371 



sufferings which had been endured in the warfare with sav- 
ages. 

After a delay of but twenty or thirty minutes, the king's 
troops resumed their march six miles farther to Concord. They 
reached the place without opposition. Before leaving Lexington 
they drew up on the common, fired a triumphant salute, and 
gave three cheers in token of their great victory. Concord con- 
sisted then mainly of a little cluster of dwellings, scattered 
around in the vicinity of a large meeting-house. The regulars 
destroyed all the ammunition and stores they could find. 1 Be- 
coming alarmed by the indications of a popular rising, and of 
the gathering of the farmers to assail them, they commenced a 
rapid retreat. 

The troops marched into the village of Concord about seven 
o'clock. It was one of the most lovely of spring mornings. 
Nearly a hundred minute-men had assembled in the vicinity of 
the court-house, and re-enforcements from the neighboring vil- 
lages were fast approaching. The retreat of the British soon 
became a precipitate flight. The Americans, rapidly increasing, 
pressed upon them with great bravery, firing into their ranks 
from every grove, and stone wall, and eminence where they 
could find a natural rampart. Hour after hour the fugitives 
were assailed by a galling and destructive fire, continually in- 
creasing in severity. It was with the utmost difficulty that the 
officers could preserve any order. All was confusion. It is said 
that the whole country was so aroused, that it seemed as if men 
came down from the clouds. The British retreated, as they 
advanced, with flanking parties, and with van and rear guards. 

With the Americans there was no military order. " Every 
man was his own general." Not a shout was heard. Scarcely 
a word was spoken. The English thought only of escape. The 
Americans, exasperated by months of oppression, insolence, and 
insult, thought only of shooting down the haughty foe who had 
affected to regard them with the utmost contempt. At one or 

1 " While at Concord the enemy disabled two twenty-four pounders, destroy- 
ing their carriages, wheels, and limbers ; sixteen wheels for brass three-pounders ; 
two carriages with wheels for two four-pounders ; about five hundred weight of 
balls, which they threw into the river and wells; and stove about sixty barrels 
of flour." — Gordon's Account. 



372 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



two points the British made a brief stand, when something like 
a battle ensued, and several fell on each side. At length, how- 
ever, the British were driven almost upon the full run before 
the Americans, in a race for life. Their sufferings from thirst, 
hunger, and exhaustion were dreadful. They would all have 
been inevitably killed or captured, had not a re-enforcement of 
eleven hundred troops, with two field-pieces, come from Boston 
to their relief. 1 

An e} r e-witness writes, " When the distressed troops reached 
the hollow square formed by the fresh troops for their recep- 
tion, they were obliged to lie down upon the ground, their 
tongues hanging: out of their mouths like those of dogs after a 
chase." This re-enforcement met the retreating British troops 
near Lexington, about two o'clock in the afternoon. For a 
short time the fire of the field-pieces seemed to stagger the 
Americans ; but they soon became accustomed to the crashing 
of the balls through the forest, and resumed the pursuit. It 
was, however, necessary to practise increased caution in attack- 
ing a desperate foe so greatly augmented in strength. 

The British were savage in their vengeance. Buildings were 

o o o 

shattered and despoiled as far as possible. Many would have 
been laid in ashes had not the close pursuit of the Americans 
enabled them to extinguish the flames. Several of the aged 
and infirm, unable to flee, were bayoneted in their dwellings. 
Houses were set on fire where women were helpless in bed 
with new-born babes. No alternative was left them but to be 
consumed by the flames, or, with the infants on their bosoms, 
to rush into the streets. 

At seven o'clock in the evening, the exhausted, bleeding, 
breathless troops reached Charlestown. They took refuge on 
Bunker Hill. Here they were protected by the guns of vessels 
of war in the harbor. According to the best estimate which 
can be made, the casualties on each side were as follows : — 

Americans killed, 49; wounded, 36; missing, 5. 
British "73 " 172 " 26. 2 

1 See the minute and admirable account, by Mr. Frederick Hudson, in Harper's 
Magazine, vol. 1. 

2 Harper's Magazine, No. 300, p. 804. 

24 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



373 



The battle of Lexington sounded the tocsin of alarm through- 
out all the colonies. The news reached York in the evening of 
the same day. The next morning a company of sixty men, 
with arms, ammunition, and knapsacks full of provisions, set 
out on their march for Boston. This was the first company 
organized in Maine for the war of the Revolution. On the 21st 
of April, Falmouth sent a strong company ; soon after, Col. 
James Scammon, of Biddeford, led a full regiment to Cam- 
bridge, where the American troops were being rendezvoused. 1 
The little town of New Gloucester raised twenty men. In a 
few days, more than fifteen thousand patriotic Americans had 
left for the battlefield their homes and their farms, in seedtime, 
the most important season of the year. Every man was appar- 
ently ready to pledge his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor, 
in defence of the liberties of America. 

Falmouth was the seat of justice for Cumberland County. 
Here there was established the most remote custom-house in 
New England. There was an Episcopal church here, under the 
pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Wiswall. 2 This church became the 
nucleus of a party of crown officers and their political friends, 
who were hostile to popular government, and warmly advocated 
the claims of the British crown. 

But many of the prominent citizens, together with the over- 
whelming majority of the people, were earnestly patriotic. 
Many conventions had been held, where strong resolutions were 
passed condemning the encroachments of the crown. A very 
bitter feeling sprang up between the people and the royalist 
office-holders. These advocates of the crown denounced Fal- 

1 "Col. Scammon -was well fitted to shine in the military profession; possess- 
ing vigor of mind and "body, and a gayety of temper which secured the good will 
and attachment of all such as were under his command." —Histonj of Saco and 
Biddeford, by George Folsom, p. 283. 

2 Eev. Mr. Wiswall graduated at Harvard College, and in 1756 settled in the 
ministry as a Congregationalist, over the Casco parish in Falmouth. In 1764 he 
changed his religious sentiments, went to England to receive ordination, and re- 
turning became pastor of an Episcopal church, which had just been organized on 
the Neck. On the breaking out of the Revolution, he joined the royalist party, 
took refuge on board the British fleet, and sailed for England. At the close of 
the war he returned to Nova Scotia, and took charge of a parish in Cornwallis, 
where he remained until he died. — History of Portland, by William Willis, p. 370. 



374 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



mouth to the British authorities, as second only to Boston in its 
rebellious spirit. 

When the odious Stamp Act was passed, in 1765, an English 
vessel brought packages of the hated stamps to Falmouth, and 
they were deposited in the custom-house. The people assem- 
bled, marched to the custom-house, seized the stamps, carried 
them in solemn procession through the streets, and burned them. 

When the tax was imposed upon tea, a popular assemblage 
expressed their hostility to the despotic act in the following 
terms : " Resolved, that we will not buy nor sell any India tea 
whatever after this third day of February, until the act that 
lays a duty on it is repealed." 

When the English Government closed the port of Boston, in 
1774, the bell of Falmouth meeting-house was muffled, and 
tolled funereally from sunrise to sunset. By vote of the town, 
a county convention was held to deliberate upon the alarming 
state of affairs. Thirty-three delegates met, from nine towns, 
in " Mrs. Greele's little one-story tavern." Among other im- 
portant measures, one was that each member pledged himself 
not to accept any commission under the late acts of parliament. 

There was a wealthy man in the place, Capt. Samuel Coulson, 
who had rendered himself very obnoxious to the people by his 
violent opposition to the popular sentiment, and his support of 
the measures of the crown. He had built a large ship. In 
May, 1775, a vessel arrived from England, bringing sails, rig- 
ging, and stores for the ship. 

As England was la}dng a heavy duty upon all her products, 
an " American Association " had been formed in the several 
colonies to thwart the British monopoly of manufactures and 
trade. The committee in Falmouth met, and decided that the 
packages should be sent back to England unopened. Capt. 
Coulson sent to Boston, and secured the aid of a sloop of war, 
the " Canseau," under Capt. Mowatt, to enable him to land the 
goods. The excitement among the citizens was such that 
Mowatt hesitated in resorting to violent measures. 

While affairs were in this menacing posture, Col. Samuel 
Thompson, a bold, reckless man, came from Brunswick, with 
fifty picked men, resolved to seize the sloop of war. They 



THE EI STORY OF MAINE. 



375 



came in boats, and secretly encamped in a thick grove on Mun- 
joy's Hill. It so happened that the day of their arrival Capt. 
Mowatt and his surgeon, accompanied by Rev. Mr. Wiswall, 
were taking a walk upon this commanding eminence. The 
captain and his surgeon were seized and held as prisoners. The 
rash measure excited general consternation. The houses were 
entirely at the mercy of the guns of the sloop. The second 
officer in command threatened, that, if the prisoners were not 
released before six o'clock, he would open fire upon the town. 1 

Some of the prominent citizens called upon Col. Thompson, 
and entreated him to liberate the captives. The colonel refused, 
declaring that relentless war was now raging between the two 
countries ; but, finding the whole town against him, he, at nine 
o'clock, released them for the night, upon their giving their 
parole that at nine o'clock the next morning they would return 
to his encampment. Two citizens of Falmouth, Messrs. Preble 
and Freeman, pledged themselves as sureties of the prisoners. 

Nine o'clock came, but Mowatt did not appear. Col. Thomp- 
son angrily arrested the two sureties, and held them all day 
without food. In the afternoon he sent to the sloop-of-war to 
inquire why Mowatt 2 did not keep his parole. He replied that 
his washerwoman had overheard threats to shoot him as soon 
as he appealed on shore. 

The intelligence of the peril of Falmouth spread rapidly. 
Five or six hundred militia-men from the small settlements 
around, were in a few hours marching into the place. They 
were intensely excited. A sort of court-martial was established, 
to examine suspected citizens, that they might learn who could 
be relied upon as patriotic, and who were in sympathy with the 
enemy. Rev. Mr. Wiswall was summoned before this revolu- 
tionary tribunal. He declared, on oath, that he abhorred the 

1 "Our women were, I believe, every one of them in tears, or praying or 
screaming; precipitately leaving their houses, especially those whose husbands 
were not at home, and widows; hurrying their goods into countrymen's carts, 
never asking their names, though strangers, and carrying their children either out 
of town or to the south end." — History of Portland, by William Willis, note, p. 509. 

2 Mr. Williamson spells these names Mowett and Wiswell; Mr. Willis spells 
them Mowatt and Wiswall, as also Wiswell. I follow the spelling, and in the 
main the narrative, of Mr. William Goold, in his minute and graphic description 
of the "Burning of Falmouth." 



376 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



doctrine of passive obedience and non-resistance. He was 
released. Several others were questioned, but none were con- 
demned. 

Capt. Coulson's house was entered, and his wine freely drank. 
An intoxicated soldier fired two bullets which penetrated the 
hull of the " Canseau." A musket was discharged in return, but 
no harm was done. Gen. Preble and Col. Freeman were still 
held as captives, and treated with severity. 

It was Tuesday, the 9th of May, when Mowatt was arrested. 
On Wednesday afternoon, the 10th, the militia marched into 
Falmouth. Thursday, the 11th, was observed as a day of fast- 
ing and pi\Tyer for God's interposition. It was a day of fearful 
excitement. The soldiers succeeded in capturing one of 
Mowatt's boats. He threatened to lay the town in ashes unless 
the boat were returned. On Friday, the soldiers left the town 
and returned to their homes. Thompson's men took with them 
the captured boat. On Monday, the 16th, Mowatt, still breath- 
ing threatenings and slaughter, raised his anchors, and sailed for 
Portsmouth. He took with him Coulson and his new ship. 
But the end was not yet. 




LAST BLOCK HOUSE OF FORT HALIFAX. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION : FALMOUTH IN ASHES. 

The British Fleet — The Doom announced — The Conference — The Bombard- 
ment — The Expedition to Quebec — The Repulse — Friendliness of the 
Indians — New Towns incorporated — The British repulsed at Machias — 
Anecdote of John Adams — Arrival of the French Fleet — The Foe estab- 
lished at Biguyduce — Terrible Naval Disaster of the Americans — Barbarism 
of the English — The Capture of Gen. Wadsworth — His Brave Defence — 
His Escape. 

THE storm of British vengeance was rapidly gathering, which 
was to doom unhappy Falmouth to destruction. On the 8th 
of June the " Senegal," a war vessel of sixteen guns, arrived, and 
cast anchor in the harbor. Four days after, the Tory Coulson 
came with his new ship, and anchored by the side of the " Sene- 
gal." Coulson hoped, under the menace of such a force, to 
obtain masts for his ship. But as he was a declared enemy of 
the town, and the Provincial Congress had passed a resolve to 
prevent Tories from conveying their property out of the country, 
the people would not allow him to take the masts. 

Again both vessels departed, and nothing of special interest 
occurred until the 16th of October. That morning quite a fleet 
was seen entering the harbor. Capt. Mo watt led the way in 
the " Canseau." He was followed by a ship-of-war, the " Cat," 
two armed schooners, and a bomb-sloop. These five vessels 
anchored abreast of the town, bringing their broadsides to bear 
upon it. In consequence of strong head-winds, this was not 
accomplished until the next day. 

Late in the afternoon a flag of truce was sent on shore, with 
a letter to the town authorities. The officer bearing the letter 
landed at the foot of what was then called King Street. An 

377 



378 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



immense throng of the excited people met him, and followed 
him, without noise or violence, to the Town House, where he 
delivered the letter. It was a document ludicrous for its bad 
grammar, but clear in its terrible announcement. In brief it 
was as follows : — 

" You have long experienced Britain's forbearance in withholding the 
rod of correction. You have been guilty of the most unpardonable rebel- 
lion. I am ordered to execute just punishment on the town of Falmouth. 
I give you two hours in which you can remove the sick and the infirm. I 
shall then open fire, and lay the town in ashes." 1 

Terrible was the consternation which this letter created. For 
a moment there was perfect silence. All seemed stupefied. 
There was scarcely a moment's time for deliberation. Three 
gentlemen were chosen to visit Mowatt, and see if it were not 
possible to avert the threatened calamit}^ But Mowatt was 
inflexible. He said that his orders were peremptory, and that 
he had risked the loss of his commission by allowing his 
humanity so far to influence him as to give them an} 7 warn- 
ing whatever; that he was ordered to anchor "opposite the 
town with all possible expedition, and then burn, sink, and 
destroy." 2 

It is worthy of remark that the three gentlemen of the com- 
mittee were all Episcopalians, and members of Rev. Mr. Wis- 
wall's parish, and thus supposed friends of the English. It was 
late in the afternoon. A long, cold October night was at hand. 
Mothers and babes, the sick and the dying, were to be driven 
out into the bleak fields shelterless ; there, with tears of agony, 
to see their homes, their furniture, their clothing, their provis- 
ions, all consumed by the cruel flames. A more barbarous order 
was never issued by a band of Mohawk savages. 3 

The committee expostulated with Mowatt upon the cruelty 
of his order. They were his friends. They had treated him 

1 See this letter in full, in Willis's History of Portland, p. 517. 

2 Burning of Falmoiith, by "William Gould, p. 12. 

3 " The vessels came here directly from Boston; and no doubt can be enter- 
tained that the order for the destruction of the town proceeded from Admiral 
Graves, who then commanded in this station." — Histoi-y of Portland, by William 
Willis, p. 518. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



379 



with great hospitality on his previous visit. There were several 
Tory families in the place who had already suffered much from 
their adherence to the British Government. Their homes must 
be consumed with the rest. The flames would make no discrimi- 
nation. Mowatt was confused and perplexed, and manifested 
some shame in view of the barbarous order he was called upon 
to execute. 

At length he consented to delay the bombardment until nine 
o'clock the next morning, if the people would consent to the 
humiliation of entirely disarming themselves, by delivering to 
him all the cannon, small arms, and ammunition in the place. If 
eight small arms were sent before eight o'clock that evening, 
he would postpone the destruction of the town until he had 
sent an express to Boston, and received further instructions. 

The committee told him frankly that they did not think that 
the citizens would accept those terms. They returned to the 
town, and communicated them to the authorities. An anxious 
multitude was assembled at the Town House to learn the result 
of the conference. As with one voice the heroic people rejected 
the humiliating proposal. . They however, in order to gain 
time for the removal of the women, the children, the sick, and 
as many of their effects as possible, sent the eight small arms, 
with a message to Mowatt, that they would summon a town 
meeting at an early hour in the morning, and give him a definite 
reply before eight o'clock. 

In the morning the meeting was held. The citizens, with 
heroism worthy of Sparta in her brightest days, resolved that 
they would not surrender their arms to save their property. 
This answer was sent back at eight o'clock the next morning by 
the same committee. The members were allowed half an hour 
to row ashore and escape beyond the reach of the bombard- 
ment. 

Promptly at nine o'clock, the signal of attack was run up to 
the mast-head of the flag-ship, and at the same moment the 
blood-red pennant of British vengeance was unfurled from all 
the other vessels. 1 It was a beautiful autumnal morning, with 

1 The Burning of Falmouth, hy "William Gould, p. 14. 



380 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



a cloudless sky, a gentle breeze, and an invigorating atmosphere. 
The whole lovely expanse of bay and island and continent 
seemed to repose in the smiles of a loving God. Falmouth 
was charmingly situated, on the southern slope of a gentle emi- 
nence facing the bay. It was the largest and richest town in 
the State. There were about four hundred dwelling-houses, 
quite compactly built, though each had its garden. Some of 
these dwellings were quite elegant in their structure. There 
were also capacious churches, a library, and several public build- 
ings of importance, together with many barns and store-houses. 

Such was the town which was destroyed, and such the day 
on which this atrocious act of crime and inhumanity was perpe- 
trated. The bombardment was terrific. From nine o'clock in 
the morning until six in the evening an incessant storm of can- 
non-balls, bombs, carcasses, shells, grape-shot, and bullets, fell 
upon the doomed town. In the mean time one hundred men 
were landed in boats to apply the torch to the buildings which 
might be out of the range of shot and shell. 1 

No resistance could be of any avail. The inhabitants ran 
great risks in their endeavors to save their furniture, while this 
tempest of war was raging around them. The town soon 
presented a roaring volcanic sheet of flame. Most of the build- 
ings were of wood, which had been thoroughly dried in the sum- 
mer sun. Dreadful was the spectacle which the evening of that 
awful day presented. Two hundred and seventy-eight dwell- 
ing-houses were in ashes, in addition to other public and private 
.buildings, which brought the whole number destroyed up to 
four hundred and fourteen. We cannot here enter into the 
details of individual misery. Many cases were truly heart- 
rending. 

Edmund Burke says that to speak of atrocious crime in mild 
language is treason to virtue. There can be no language too 
strong in which to denounce this fiend-like outrage. 2 A very 

1 History of Portland, by William Willis, p. 519. 

2 We are in cordial sympathy with the spirit manifested by the Per. Samuel 
Deane, D.D., who was then pastor of the Congregational church in Portland, and 
who witnessed the bombardment. He wrote, — 

" Tbat execrable scoundrel and monster of ingratitude, Capt. H. Mowatt of 
Scotland, who had been treated with extraordinary kindness a few months before 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



381 



careful estimate was made of the amount of the losses experi- 
enced. They reached the enormous sum, in those days, of fifty- 
four thousand five hundred and twenty-seven pounds, thirteen 
shillings. This was lawful money, which was then equivalent 
to two hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred and 
thirty-nine dollars in silver. 1 

Soon after this the General Court commenced rearing some 
fortifications at Falmouth, and sent four hundred soldiers to 
aid in guarding the coast of Maine. Gen. Washington projected 
an expedition against Quebec. The force consisted of about 
eleven hundred men, mainly infantry. Col. Benedict Arnold, 
whose gallantry was established, and whose patriotism was then 
unsullied, was placed in command. The troops rendezvoused 
at Newburyport, Mass., and sailed thence, in ten transports, for 
Fort Western, which, it will be remembered, was at the head of 
tide-water on the Kennebec River. They ascended the river 
still farther in boats, and marched along the pathless banks, 
encountering the most exhausting difficulties, until. they reached 
a point about thirty miles above Norridgewock. It was then 
about the 12th of October.. 

Here a small fort was built, and a small division left in gar- 
rison. A series of terrible disasters ensued. There were gales 
of almost wintry wind, floods of rain, swollen torrents, swamps, 
rugged hills, tangled forests, and failing provisions. There was 
reason to fear that the whole army would actually perish of 
hunger in the wilderness. Many barrels of food were lost, with 

"by the town of Falmouth, ohtained an order from Graves, one of King George's 
admirals lying at Boston, to burn and destroy the said town. 

" He came "before it on the 17th of October, 1775, and near sunset made known 
his infernal errand, by a flag, with a letter full of bad English and worse spelling; 
at the same time proposing to spare the town, and endeavor to get the order re- 
versed, if the cannon and arms, with some persons as hostages, were delivered into 
his hands. The inhahitants assembled, and voted by no means to submit to this 
infamous proposal. Therefore he spent the next day in cannonading, bombarding, 
and throwing an immense quantity of carcasses and shells into the defenceless 
town, and kindling some fires with torches, whereby more than three-quarters of 
the buildings were reduced to ashes, and the remaining ones greatly torn and 
damaged; by which horrible devastation many hundred persons were reduced to 
extreme distress. 

" If you do not like the words execrable scoundrel, you may substitute infamous 
incendiary, or what you please." — Diary of Rev. Samuel Deane, p. 241. 
i History of Portland, by William Willis, p. 524. 



382 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE 



silver, clothes, guns, and ammunition. Upon reaching the mouth 
of Dead River, far away in the savage wilderness, Col. Enos, in 
command of the rear guard, and having the sick under his care, 
abandoned the enterprise, and returned.' He had with him 
about one-fourth of the army. For this movement he was at 
first severely denounced ; but a court-martial decided that he 
had not acted unwisely in so doing. 

Arnold, with his small force, pressed on across the country, 
a distance of about one hundred miles, toward the Chaudiere. 
He had to force his wa} T through wilds never before trodden but 
by Indians and the beasts of the forest. On the 30th of Octo- 
ber he reached, through toils and sufferings which cannot be 
adequately described, the northern end of Lake Megantic, 
where the River Chaudiere flows from that vast sheet of water. 
Their distress was then so great, and their remaining provisions 
so small, that Arnold divided all the supplies among the compa- 
nies, and directed them to press on, regardless of military order, 
in search of the Canadian villages. 

For a month they toiled along without seeing a house, or any 
human being save their own disheartened and emaciated com- 
panions. Every morsel of food was consumed before they had 
arrived within thirty miles of the first Canadian village. They 
killed their dogs, and devoured them. They boiled, and then 
broiled upon the fire and ate, their breeches, moccasins, and bayo- 
net-belts, Avhich were made of tanned moose-hide. On the 4th 
of November they reached the mouth of De Loup River. In 
that northern latitude it was cold, dreary, and stormy. Quebec, 
on the St. Lawrence, was still ninety miles north of them. 
Many died of fatigue and hunger. Often a man would drop 
down in such utter misery, that in less than five minutes he 
would be dead. 

The situation of the army was awful. To retreat was im- 
possible ; for there was nothing but certain starvation before 
them in the wilderness. To stop where they were, was inevita- 
ble death. To march forward was almost hopeless. They were 
in utter destitution. The men tottered along so feebly that they 
could scarcely shoulder a gun. Washington, with his charac- 
teristic humanity, had instructed these troops to abstain from 
every act of violence upon the people of Canada. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



383 



" I charge you," he wrote, " that you consider yourselves as 
marching, not through an enemy's country, but that of your 
friends and brethren ; for such the inhabitants of Canada and 
the Indian nations have approved themselves in this unhappy 
contest between Great Britain and America." 

Col. Arnold had been furnished with money, in specie, to the 
amount of about four thousand dollars. His troops now began 
to reach thriving Canadian and Indian villages. With great 
cheerfulness the inhabitants supplied him with food. With 
recruited energies the army pressed on, hoping to find Quebec 
undefended and without a garrison. On the 8th of November 
they reached Point Levi, on the southern bank of the river 
opposite Quebec. The appearance of the American troops, 
emerging from the vast and dreary wilderness, was as unex- 
pected as if they had descended from the clouds. It is said, that, 
could they have immediately crossed the river, Quebec might 
have been taken. 

But the men were greatly exhausted. There was a high, 
piercing wintry wind, roughening the wide surface of the stream. 
Boats could not readily be .procured. Thus the golden oppor- 
tunity was lost. The British authorities fortified the city. 
Arnold had about seven hundred men at Point Levi, fifty of 
whom were friendly Indians. On the first of December, Gen. 
Montgomery arrived with three armed schooners, six hundred 
men, and a supply of food, clothing, and ammunition. They 
made a united attack upon Quebec, on the 31st of December. 
The assailants were repelled, Montgomery fell, and the Ameri- 
cans evacuated Canada. 

The General Court, that winter, organized Maine into a mili- 
tary division. A brigadier-general was appointed over the militia 
in each county. All able-bodied males, between sixteen and 
sixty, were enrolled to do military duty, with the exception of 
settled ministers of the gospel, Quakers, colored men, and 
Indians. 

The awful war of the Revolution was raging south of Maine, 
while a small garrison was stationed at Falmouth with a battery 
of six cannon. The cruelties perpetrated by the British Gov- 
ernment were so great that every hour the resentment of the 



384 



THE niSTORY OF MAINE. 



Americans, against the unnatural mother country, was increas- 
ing. On the 4th of July, 1776, the Continental Congress 
declared these colonies to be free, sovereign, and independent. 

The Indians of Maine had, thus far, remained quiet. Trading- 
houses had been established at Fort Pownal, near where Bangor 
now stands, and at Machias. The Penobscot and Passama- 
quoddy Indians were cordially friendly to the Americans. Ten 
of the chiefs of the tribes still farther east repaired to Massa- 
chusetts, and entered into a treaty of alliance with the govern- 
ment, engaging to send six hundred men to join the army of 
Gen. Washington. The small settlements of Camden and 
Machias raised two hundred men for the defence of the country. 
Thirty men, ten of whom were Indians, were stationed at Fort 
Pownal for the defence of the valley of the Penobscot. 

On the 7th of November, 177G, the town of Warren was 
incorporated. It was named in honor of Gen. Warren who fell 
at Bunker Hill. This was the thirty-fifth town of the State, 
and was the first one which had been incorporated on St. 
George's River, though that valley had been settled for about 
forty years. There were for many years two settlements in this 
region, — one at Warren, and one at Thomaston. St. George's 
Fort was their common resort in times of peril. They were 
called the " Upper and Lower Towns." In the year 1753, 
seventy emigrants from Sterling, in Scotland, settled in a 
cluster in this vicinity. Subsequently their village took the 
name of the city which they ft*5d left. 

England found that her colonies developed unexpected ener- 
gies. Our cruisers were remarkably successful. During the 
war they captured prizes to the amount of about seven million 
dollars. Amidst many reverses and many woes, the victory at 
Trenton rilled the country with exultation. Our ally France, in 
the spring of 1777, sent to the colonies a large amount of arms 
and military stores. For the defence of the coast of Maine, 
companies were raised and stationed at Falmouth, Cape Eliza- 

1 Warren contains twenty-seven thousand acres. The river is navigable to 
Andrews Pond, for vessels of one hundred tons. Shad and alewives were for- 
merly taken in immense quantities in the river. The natives marked a tree, 
near the first falls, above which they forbade the English to fish. — MS. Narrative 
of Warren by Cyrus Eaton % as quoted by Williamson, vol. ii. p. 456. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



385 



beth, and Boothbay. At the latter place there was a battery 
of five cannon, the largest of which was a twelve-pounder. 
They were supplied with fifty rounds of cartridges. 1 

Machias became a very important place. It was raised to a 
continental establishment. There was an important mill privi- 
lege here which attracted settlers. Three hundred volunteer 
soldiers were placed there in garrison. Ample stores for trade 
with the Indians were shipped to that place, that their continued 




LOWER FALLS, EAST MACHIAS, ME. 



friendship might be secured. The Indians remained friendly, 
and many of them enlisted in the service of the Americans. 

On the 11th of January, 1777, the flourishing plantation of 
Fryeburg was incorporated. The place had renown as the 
former seat of a large village belonging to the tribe of Sokokis 
Indians. It was also the theatre of Lovewell's disastrous fight 
in the year 1725. The Indians called the place Pegwacket. 2 

i Bradford's Mass., vol. ii. p. 133. 2 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 459. 

25 



386 



TEE EISTORY OF MAINE. 



On the 20th of March, Thomaston was incorporated. This 
made the thirty-seventh town in the State. Its Indian name 
was Georgeekeag. Thomaston received its name from a brave 
officer of Massachusetts, Major-Gen. John Thomas, who had 
died the preceding May, in the service of his country. The 
fort in this place gave it celebrity above any other town in the 
valley of the St. George. In 1750 the fort was so crowded, in 
consequence of the Indian war, that about twenty families built 
two rows of block-houses, one hundred rods from the fort, and 
surrounded them with palisades ten feet high. All the men 
served alternately as guards and sentinels, ever ready to muster 
to repel an attack. x 

The British sent four war-vessels, to batter down Machias* 
They anchored about a mile below the junction of East and 
West Machias Rivers. They burned two dwelling-houses, and 
several other buildings. The barges then, in a dead calm, 
towed two of the vessels, a brig and a sloop, to the mouth of 
Middle River, about half a mile below the falls. The garrison, 
aided by the Indians, opened a deadly fire from each shore upon 
the barges, and drove the sailors from their boats on board the 
brig. The current swept her ashore. The men were driven by 
the bullets, from the deck into the hold. The rising tide soon 
floated the brig ; but the fire from the north shore was kept up 
so briskly that the men could not work her, and she soon 
grounded again. 

It was indeed a wonderful scene which was then and there 
witnessed. There were fifty Passamaquoddy Indians engaged 
in the attack upon the vessels. It was congenial work for them. 
They could run along the shore, hide behind the trees, stumps, 
and logs, and take deliberate aim at their foes, without en- 
dangering themselves. Every man in the place, capable of 
bearing arms, rushed to the conflict. The Indians kept up an 
incessant, shrill war-whoop. The white people re-echoed the 
shout. These yells, from foes who were scarcely visible, echoing 
through the forest, led the English to suppose that the shores 
were lined with thousands of savages. 

A breeze arose. Aided by this the two vessels effected a 
retreat to the other two vessels which were at anchor. The 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



387 



officers, surprised at the vigor of the resistance which they had 
encountered, after the delay of a few days abandoned the enter- 
prise. The Indians merited and received the gratitude of the 
Americans for their faithful adherence to their cause. Had they 
listened to the appeals of the English, they might easily, with 
their aid, have destroyed all the eastern settlements. 1 

In the year 1777, Burgoyne's surrender caused nine thousand 
of our enemies to lay down their arms. 2 There was no longer 
any fear of the invasion of Maine from Canada. During the 
progress of the war Maine gained much celebrity from the hardy 
and skilled seamen she furnished our infant navy. In addition 
to their almost perfect seamanship, they were generally young 
men of good character and habits. Commodore Samuel Tucker, 
one of the bravest of the brave, who conveyed in a Continental 
frigate Hon. John Adams as American envoy to France, was 
a native of Bristol, Me. Hon. Mr. Sprague, in his eulogy of 
Adams and Jefferson, relates the following well-authenticated 
anecdote of an event which occurred on the passage : — 

On the 14th of March, a vessel hove in sight. Capt. Tucker 
soon came up with it, and found it to be an armed British 
cruiser. After a hotly contested battle it was captured. In the 
midst of the tumult and the carnage, Capt. Tucker, much to his 
surprise, saw his illustrious passenger on deck, musket, in hand, 
fighting like a common sailor. The captain, who was a very 
powerful man, rushed up to Mr. Adams, and in excited accents 
exclaimed, " You here, sir ! You have no business here, sir ! 
I am commanded to carry you safely to Europe ; and, God help- 
ing me, I will do it." So saying, he seized Mr. Adams in his 
arms, and carried him, as though he were a child, down into 
the cabin. 3 

In the year 1778, two new towns were incorporated. The 
first was Coxhall, subsequently Lyman, named probably in 
honor of Theodore Lyman of Boston. A few settlers had 

1 " Great credit is due to the Indians for their rigid adherence to our cause ; 
although, at times, the commissary's department was destitute of sufficient pro- 
visions and clothing for them." — Judge Jones. 

2 The British force surrendered was 6,280; Burgoyne's other losses amounted 
to 2,933. Total, 9,213. — Holmes's American Annals, vol. ii. p. 391. 

3 Life of John Adams. Lives of The Presidents, p. 74. 



388 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



penetrated the wilderness at this place, about ten years before. 
The other town was Gray, so named from one of its proprietors. 
Nearly thirty years before, an attempt had been made to establish 
a settlement here ; but, during the French war, the plantation 
had been laid waste. In all these new towns the inhabitants 
were ardent friends of liberty. The Tories resided in the more 
opulent towns, where officers, under the British Government, 
exerted a powerful influence over the aristocratic circles of 
society. This year a law was passed confiscating the estates of 
three hundred and ten of the Tories, who had resided in the 
State, but who had many of them fled, taking refuge on board 
the British fleet. They generally deemed it impossible that the 
Americans could resist the power of Great Britain, and doubted 
not that they would soon be returned in triumph to their homes. 

The battle of Monmouth, on the 28th of June, 1778, gave 
new hopes to the Americans ; which hopes received another 
impulse from the arrival of a French fleet of twelve ships of the 
line and six frigates, to aid them in their struggle against their 
gigantic foe. The territory of Massachusetts, which included 
Maine, was at this time divided into three districts, the North- 
ern, Middle, and Southern. The counties of York, Cumberland, 
and Lincoln received the distinctive name of the " District of 
Maine." Timothy Langdon, Esq., an eminent lawyer of Wis- 
casset, was appointed judge. 

In 1779 Pittston was incorporated. It was the fortieth town 
in the State, and the last which was incorporated by the General 
Court under the royal charter. A settlement had been com- 
menced there about eighteen years before. In May of this 
year, the British sent a fleet of seven or eight war-ships, to 
plunder and burn the settlements on the Penobscot. Nearly a 
thousand men embarked in this fleet at Halifax. They landed 
on the 12th, at Biguyduce, 1 now Castine, and commenced 
building a strong fort that they might command the whole of 
the valley. The detested Mowatt was assigned to this station, 
with three sloops of war. 

This movement created much alarm. The General Court of 

i This name, taken from a French gentleman, Major Bignyduce, who formerly- 
resided there, was pronounced Bageduce. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



389 



Massachusetts, with the approval of the Colonial Government, 
promptly fitted out for the capture of the port, a fleet of nineteen 
armed vessels and twenty-four transports. The fleet carried 
three hundred and forty-four guns, and was amply supplied with 
material of war. The command of the expedition was intrusted 
to Commodore Saltonstall, of New Haven, Conn. He was un- 
doubtedly a patriot and a brave man ; but he was sadly deficient 
in military skill. The enterprise proved a total failure, followed 
by an awful loss of life and property. It is very clear that the 
fort could have been taken had proper measures been adopted. 
Gens. Lovell and Wads worth, who commanded the land force, 
conducted with great bravery, but they were not supported by 
the commodore. The assaults which were made were so feeble 
that the garrison was enabled to strengthen its works, and to 
send to Halifax for aid. 

On the 14th of August, a formidable British fleet of seven 
vessels entered the harbor. The result was that the American 
fleet was annihilated. Some of the vessels were captured by the 
English. Some were run ashore and burned. Nearly all were 
abandoned. The sailors and marines commenced a retreat 
through the vast wilderness, to the Kennebec. After great suf- 
fering, most of them reached the forts on the river. This utter 
defeat was extremely humiliating. The General Court, after a 
thorough investigation of the affair, pronounced sentence in- 
capacitating Commodore Saltonstall from ever after holding a 
commission in the service of the State, and honorably acquitting 
Gens. Lovell and Wadsworth. 

The British now seemed to be securely established at the 
mouth of the Penobscot. The American settlers, on the banks 
and the island, were exposed to constant insults and injuries. 
After the repulse of the fleet, the British sent a party up the 
river to Bucksport, where they burned five dwelling-houses and 
all the out-buildings, and returned to the fort with the plunder. 
The people of the struggling little settlement in Belfast were 
plundered, and so outrageously abused that they were forced to 
abandon their homes and all their possessions, and in destitution 
and tears to seek refuge where they could. It seems difficult to 
account for the fact that British officers, who had wives and 



390 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



children, and who were generally gentlemen by birth, could be 
guilty of such inhumanity as to burn the log cabins of poor 
settlers, rob them of their little all, and drive out mothers, 
babes, and maidens to perish of hunger and exposure in the 
wilderness. 

There was a poor man by the name of John Gilky, living 
upon an island. He was absent, and only his wife and children 
remained in the lonely cabin. A boat's crew of Englishmen 
landed. They plundered his house, and shot his five cows, 
though the mother, with tears and on her knees, implored them 
to spare her at least one for her children. These men, sent 
on this diabolical mission from an English ship, then retired, 
leaving the family in the depths of woe. 

An English soldier fled from one of these ships. It is proba- 
ble that he was in favor of American liberty, and did not like 
the employment he was in. Faint and hungry he came to the 
house of Shubael Williams. The kind-hearted American, poor 
as he was, gave him a seat by his cabin-fire, and fed him. "Wil- 
liams was seized by the British, and was charged with encoura- 
ging the man to desert. These English officers, who called 
themselves civilized and even Christian men, sentenced the poor 
man to receive five hundred lashes at the whipping-post. 1 The 
writer regrets to record such deeds, but history is unfaithful to 
its trust if atrocious acts are not held up to public execration. 
Many Tories from Massachusetts fled to this region, to be under 
the protection of the English. All the eastern towns were now 
in great peril from a foe more to be dreaded than the Indians. 
The General Court sent three hundred men to Falmouth, two 
hundred to Camden, and a hundred to Machias. The command 
of this eastern department was assigned to Gen. Wadsworth. 
His headquarters were at Thomaston. 

The island of Mount Desert suffered severely from the rav- 
ages of the enemy. Boats' crews were often landing, shooting 
the cattle, and plundering the helpless inhabitants. Bath, the 
forty-first town in the State, was incorporated in the year 1781. 
It had previously been considered the second parish of George- 

1 Williamson's History of Maine, vol. ii. p. 430. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



391 



town. The first settlement here was in about the year 1670. 
The land was purchased of two sagamores, Elderunkin and 
Nenement. 

Bath has become one of the most important commercial towns 
in Maine. It is admirably located on the western bank of Ken- 
nebec River, twelve miles from its mouth. The largest ships 
can float in its secure harbor, which is never impeded by ice. 
Capt. George Weymouth, as we have mentioned in the early 
part of this history, ascended the river to this point, in the sum- 
mer of 1605. He landed, with a boat's crew, and wrote, — 

" We passed over very good ground, pleasant and fertile, and fit for pas- 
ture, having but little wood, and that oak, like that standing in our pastures 
in England, good and great, fit timber for any use. There were also some 
small birch, hazel, and brake, which could easily be cleared away, and made 
good arable land." 1 

Ship-building has been its principal business. In the year 
1847 it received a city charter, and in 1854 became the shire- 
town of Sagadahoc County. 

During the vicissitudes of the war, Gen. Wadsworth was 
residing in a secluded habitation, on the banks of a small rill in 
Thomaston. His family consisted of Mrs. Wadsworth, an infant 
daughter, a son five years of age, and a young lady, Miss Fenno, 
a friend of Mrs. Wadsworth. Six soldiers were on guard. The 
English at Biguyduce heard of his defenceless condition, and 
sent a party of twenty-five men, under Lieut. Stockton, to cap- 
ture him. It was the 18th of February. The ground was 
covered with snow, and it was intensely cold. 

At midnight the party approached the house. The sentinel, 
outside at the door, seeing such a band approach, rushed into 
the kitchen, which was used as a guard-room. The English dis- 
charged a volley of bullets through the open door. The house 
was immediately surrounded, the windows dashed in, and vol- 
leys discharged into the sleeping apartments of the general and 
of Miss Fenno. The general, armed with a brace of pistols, a 
fusee, and a blunderbuss, fought with great intrepidity, driving 
the foe from before his window and from the door. The attack 

1 Maine Historical Collection, vol. v. Address by John McKeen, Esq. 



392 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



was renewed through the entry. The general defended him- 
self with a bayonet until a bullet passed through his arm, 
rendering him helpless. He then surrendered. He would have 
been shot down in cold blood had not an officer pushed aside 
the gun of the assassin. 

Awful was the spectacle then witnessed. The general and 
nearly all of his guard were wounded, and their persons and 
the floors were stained with blood. One poor creature, writh- 
ing in anguish from a dreadful wound, begged them to shoot 
him and thus end his torture. The windows and the doors were 
dashed in, and the house was on fire. The thickly flying bul- 
lets fortunately struck neither of the females nor the children. 
The general had sprung from his bed, and was in his night- 
dress. The bullet had struck his elbow, and the arm, from 
which the blood was gushing, hung helpless at his side ; and he 
announced a surrender. An English officer came into his room 
with a lighted candle, and said, " You have defended yourself 
bravely. But we must be in haste. We will help you put on 
your clothes." 

The excruciating pain of his wound rendered it impossible 
for him to wear his coat. It was given to a soldier to carry, 
and a blanket was spread over his shoulders to protect him from 
the piercing wintry blast. His wife begged permission to exam- 
ine and dress the wound. This was not permitted. A handker- 
chief was bound around the arm to stay, in some degree, the 
rapid gushing of the blood. 

Several of the British soldiers were wounded. Two of them 
were placed upon the general's horse, which was brought from 
the barn, while he, faint from loss of blood, was compelled to 
walk four miles, through the snow, to the vessel from which 
the party had landed. After toiling along for a mile, his 
strength entirely gave out. As one of the wounded British 
soldiers who was riding was apparently dying, they left him 
at a house, and the general was placed upon the horse behind 
the other soldier. When they reached the shore, off which the 
vessel, which was an English privateer, lay at anchor, the cap- 
tain approached him, and exclaimed ferociously, " You damned 
rebel, go and help them launch the boat, or I will run you 
through with my sword." 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



393 



Gen. Wadsworth replied, "I am a prisoner, wounded and 
helpless. You may treat me as you please." 

Lieut. Stockton came promptly to the rescue, and, addressing 
the brutal fellow, said, " Your conduct shall be reported to your 
superiors. The prisoner is a gentleman. He has made a brave 
defence. He is entitled to be treated honorably." 

The general was granted a berth in the cabin, and such other 
comforts as circumstances would allow. The next day the ves- 
sel reached Biguyduce. The place was thronged with British 
officers, sailors, soldiers, and Tories, who had taken refuge there. 
They crowded the shore to see the captives landed, and assailed 
them with shouts of rage and contempt. 

Protected from mob violence by a guard, they were marched 
half a mile to the fort. A surgeon dressed the general's wounds, 
and he was treated with great humanity. Gen. Campbell, who 
commanded at the fort, expressed his high admiration of the 
heroic defence Gen. Wadsworth had made against such fearful 
odds. " I have heard," he said, 44 of the treatment you received 
from the captain of the privateer, and I shall compel him to 
make to you»a suitable apology." 

A comfortable room was assigned him, he breakfasted and dined 
at the table of the commandant, and books were furnished him 
to relieve the weariness of his imprisonment. There was an 
encampment of American soldiers at Camden, on the western 
side of Penobscot Bay, about twenty-one miles from Biguyduce. 
Lieut. Stockton allowed his prisoner to send to that station, 
which was but four miles from the place where he had been 
captured, a letter to his wife, and another to the governor of 
Massachusetts, by a flag of truce. 

Gen. Wadsworth felt extreme anxiety in reference to his 
family. He had been so hurried away that he knew not their 
fate. At the close of a fortnight he learned that they were 
safe. His little son, buried in the bed-clothes, had escaped the 
bullets which had been flying so thickly through the chamber. 
The wounds of the general proved to be very severe. It was 
five weeks before he could move about. He wished for the 
customary permission of going abroad on his parole ; but this 
privilege was denied him. 



394 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



After close confinement of two months, his wife and Miss 
Fenno were allowed to make him a short visit. He then ascer- 
tained that he was to be sent to England, to be tried as a rebel. 
The British authorities were treating the American prisoners 
of war with the utmost brutality. If sent to London, there 
was but slight chance of his escaping the gibbet. About this 
time Major Benjamin Burton was captured, and was imprisoned 
in the same room with Gen. Wadsworth. He was a very brave 
man, who had been attached to a fortress in the present town 
of Cushing. His intrepidity had attracted the attention of the 
English, and excited their malevolence. It was soon evident 
that they were both to be transported to England. 

Goaded by this peril, they effected their escape through toils 
and sufferings, scarcely exceeded by the world-renowned adven- 
tures of Baron Trenck. They were in a grated room within 
the fort. The walls of the fort were twenty feet high, sur- 
rounded by a ditch. Sentinels were stationed upon the walls, 
and on the outside of the portals which opened from the for- 
tress. Guards were also stationed at the door of their room. 
Outside of the ditch there was another set of soldiers, who were 
patrolling through the night. The fort was on a peninsula, and 
a picket-guard was placed at the isthmus to prevent any escape 
to the mainland. Under these circumstances it would seem 
that escape were impossible. 

With a penknife and a gimlet, they, in three weeks' labor, cut 
an aperture through the pine-board ceiling of their room. 
Every cut was concealed by paste made of bread moistened in 
their mouths. On the 18th of June the long wished for night 
of darkness, thunder, and tempest came. The midnight gale, 
with flooding rain, drove all to seek shelter. At twelve o'clock 
they removed the panel which they had cut out. By the aid 
of a chair they crept into an entry above. The darkness was 
like that of Egypt. They groped their way along, and soon 
became hopelessly separated. Wadsworth succeeded in reach- 
ing the top of the wall by an oblique path used by the soldiers. 
Fastening his blanket to a picket, he let himself down until he 
dropped into the ditch. Cautiously creeping between the sentry 
boxes, he reached the open field. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



395 



The gale still swept the plains, and the rain fell in floods. 
He groped his way through rocks and stumps and brush, till he 
reached an old abandoned guard-house on the shore of the back 
cove. This was the rendezvous where the two friends had 
agreed to meet. He waited half an hour ; but as Major Burton 
did not appear he sadly gave him up as lost. It was low water. 
He waded across the cove, which was a mile in width, the water 
often reaching nearly to his armpits. Thence he pressed on 
another mile, through a road which he had formerly caused to 
be cut for the removal of cannon. 

The sun was now rising. He was still on the eastern banks 
of the Penobscot, about eight miles above the fort. It was a 
beautiful June morning. The smiles of God seemed to be rest- 
ing upon a world which its wicked inhabitants were filling with 
misery. At that moment the general, to his inexpressible joy, 
saw his companion approaching. The meeting was rapturous. 

They found a boat upon the shore. With it they crossed the 
broad river, and landed on the western bank, just below Orphan 
Island. They had but just landed, when a barge of the enemy 
was seen in the distance, evidently in pursuit. Gen. Wads- 
worth had a small pocket compass. Guided by this they directed 
their course in a south-west direction, and after three days of 
toil and suffering reached the habitations of American settlers. 
They obtained horses, and were soon with their friends in 
Thomaston. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



THE "WAR OF 1812, AND THE SEPARATION. 

Expenses of the War — The Question of Separation — Increase of Towns — 
Counties Formed — Bowdoin College chartered — The Farmington Schools 

— Lewiston — Augusta and its Institutions — Waterville — Gardiner — The 
War of 1812 — Causes of the War — Incidents of the Conflict — Increase of 
Population and Towns — The Penobscot Yalley ravaged — General Alarm 

— Scenes in Castine — Peace — The " Ohio Fever " — The Separation — 
Maine an Independent State. 

THROUGH all this dreadful conflict with England, the In- 
dians of Maine remained firm in their alliance with the 
Americans. The coasts were ravaged by English cruisers. 
This led many settlers to push farther back into the wilderness. 
Four years after the capture of Burgoyne, the British army, under 
Lord Cornwallis, on the 27th of October, 1781, surrendered at 
Yorktown, to the combined force of France and America. The 
British were vanquished. Their cause was hopeless. A treaty 
of peace was signed at Paris, on the 3d of September, 1783. All 
hostilities ceased, and the British armies were withdrawn from 
our shores. England, in this senseless war, sacrificed one hun- 
dred thousand lives of her own subjects and mercenaries, and 
added a sum amounting to six hundred million dollars to her 
national debt. America gained her independence at an expense 
of the lives of fifty thousand of her patriotic citizens, and a debt 
of forty-five million dollars ; and this was in addition to indi- 
vidual losses and expenditures which can never be adequately 
estimated. 1 

The Indians had won the kindly feelings of all. But they 

1 "Williamson, vol. ii. p. 504 ; Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. ii. p. 402. 

397 




398 THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 

were no longer freeholders of the soil. They were allowed 
restricted territory, and all other regions were in the possession 
of the State. The District of Maine embraced, it was estimated, 
thirty million acres. An immense tide of emigration began to 
flow in upon these rich lands. A day of prosperity had dawned. 
In 1784 Machias, which had been deemed the most noted plan- 
tation in Maine, was incorporated. It took its name from a 
river passing through it, which the Indians called Mechises. 
The Tories of Maine generally retired across the Bay of Fundy, 
to the English province of New Brunswick. 

In March, 1785, James Bowdoin was elected governor of 
Massachusetts. Three new towns were incorporated this year, — 
Shapleigh, Parsonsfield, and Standish. The last was named in 
honor of the renowned Capt. Miles Standish. The question 
arose respecting the separation of the District of Maine from the 
State of Massachusetts. But the inhabitants of Maine were so 
widely scattered, that it was impossible to obtain an expression 
of public opinion. Conventions were held, addresses issued, and 
various measures adopted, to form and to ascertain the views 
of the people. 

In the year 1786, Falmouth was divided. The peninsula and 
several of the adjoining islands were incorporated into a town 
by the name of Portland. For more than a hundred and fifty 
years there had been cabins and hunting camps on the Neck. 
Turner and Union were also incorporated this year. In the town 
of Union there were but seventeen families. The whole popula- 
tion amounted to but one hundred and fifty souls. Great efforts 
were made to ascertain, by a general convention, the wishes of 
the people of the State in reference to separation. It was 
found that the whole number of towns and plantations in the 
State amounted to ninety-three. This was in the year 1787. 
At the convention nine hundred and ninety-four votes were 
thrown. Six hundred and forty-five of these were in favor of 
separation. But, when the motion was made to petition the 
legislature for a separation, it was lost. The question was re- 
considered ; and, after a very hot debate, it was carried by a 
majority of but two votes. The majority was not deemed suf- 
ficient for pressing so important a measure. Massachusetts, 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



399 



desiring to retain the district, was very generous in its legisla- 
tion. Wild lands were exempted from taxation. Roads were 
constructed at the public expense. Every permanent settler 
was granted a deed for a hundred acres of land, upon paying 
five dollars. During this year, Penobscot, Limerick, and Water- 
borough were incorporated. Penobscot embraced the present 
town of Castine. 

In the year 1788, a convention in Boston adopted the Federal 
Constitution, and abolished slavery from the Commonwealth. 
Maine was entitled to send one representative to Congress. 

Harvard University had long been established. It was 
deemed important that a literary institution of high order 
should be established at Maine. The legislature appropriated 
the township of Dixmont for that purpose. Bowdoin, Orring- 
ton, Norridgewock, Greene, Fairfield, Canaan, and Noblebor- 
ough were incorporated this year. 

The next year, 1789, a great cluster of towns came into being ; 
namely, Sedgwick, Cushing, Islesborough, Bluehill, Deer Isle, 
Freeport, Trenton, Goldsborough, Sullivan, Mount Desert, Dur- 
ham, Frankport, and Vinalhaven. This rapid progress indicates 
the prosperity of the State. In 1789 George Washington was 
elected President of the United States, and was inaugurated in 
New York on the 30th of April. The rapid increase of towns 
led to the formation, in 1789, of two new counties, Hancock and 
Washington. Penobscot, now Castine, became the shire-town 
of Hancock, and Machias of Washington County. 

A federal census was taken this year, when it was found that 
the population of Maine had reached the unexpected number 
of ninety-six thousand five hundred and forty souls. The 
territory was now formally organized into a district, and invested 
with various rights of jurisdiction. Both the lumber and the fur 
business continued very profitable. In the year 1791, three 
towns were incorporated, Camden, Bangor, and Readfield. The 
Indian name of the first of these was Megunticook. Its new 
name was given in honor of Lord Camden, a warm friend of the 
Americans during the Revolution. 1 

1 When the royal proclamation was issued to employ the savages against the 
Americans, Lord Camden indignantly exclaimed in Parliament : — 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



401 



Bangor had been called Kenduskeag. Rev. Seth Noble was 
influential in obtaining the act of incorporation. It had been 
urged upon him that the town should be called Sunbury, in 
reference to its charming location. But he, not fancying the 
name, took the liberty of substituting that of his favorite tune, 
Bangor. 2 

Read field, the seventy-fourth town of the State, was taken 
from Winthrop. It subsequently became the seat of the Maine 
Wesleyan Seminary. This is one of the most important and 
flourishing literary institutions in the State. It is alike dis- 
tinguished for its intellectual, its moral, and its religious influ- 
ence. Though it was not instituted until the year 1825, its 
graduates may now be found in almost every State in the Union. 
The reader will find, annexed, a very correct pictorial sketch 
of the seminary buildings. 

The next 3'ear six towns were incorporated. Monmouth, 
which, as a plantation; had been called Wales, took its new 
name in memory of the celebrated battle fought in June, 1778. 
Here also an academy was established in 1809, which obtained; 
much celebrity throughout the State. 

Sidney was taken from Vassalborough. Limington had pre- 
viously been called the Ossipee Plantation. Hebron with its 
Biblical name was called originally Philip Gore. Here also' 
there was a very important academy, endowed with a half 
township of land. Bucksport had been called Buckstown, from 
one of its first settlers, Col. Jonathan Buck. The village is- 
beautifully situated on the eastern banks of the Penobscot, and; 
enjoys one of the finest harbors that magnificent river affords. 
Mount Vernon commemorates the sacred spot on the Potomac,- 
which every American, in all time, will approach with veneration. 

Two towns only, from the vast expanse of wild lands, were 
incorporated in the year 1793. Buckfield had been called Num- 
ber Five. Benjamin Spaulding first entered its forests in the 

" Such a proposition ought to he damned. It holds forth a war of revenge, such 
as Moloch in Pandemonium advised. It will fix an inveterate hatred in the 
Americans against the very name of Englishmen. This will he left a legacy, from> 
father to son, to the latest posterity." 

2 Williamson, vol. ii. p. 552. 
26 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



403 



year 1776, and cut down a few trees. With several associates 
he purchased the township in 1788, of the Commonwealth, for 
two shillings an acre. Paris was formerly Number Four. The 
axe was, for the first time, heard in its densely wooded solitudes 
in the year 1779. It became eventually the shire-town of 
Oxford County. 

Upon the commencement of the French Revolution in 1789, 
there was much division of public opinion in Maine. The 
Americans saw no French newspapers. All the information 
they could gain, of the tremendous events which were trans- 
piring, was drawn from the British press. Very many were 
consequently in sympathy with the British Government, in its 
warfare against the new institutions in France. But there were 
also many in sympathy with the French people, in their efforts 
to throw off the despotic yoke of their ancient kings. 

In the year 1794, the population of Maine had so increased 
that the District was entitled to three representatives in Con- 
gress. On the 24th of June of this year, a charter was granted 
to Bowdoin College. A Protestant from France, whose French 
name was Pierre Bauduoin,- but who took the English name of 
Bowdoin, fled from Catholic persecution to Falmouth. He soon 
died in Boston, leaving a widow and family in charge of his 
eldest son James. This son became very wealthy, and, at the 
age of seventy, bequeathed his large estate to his two sons, 
James and William. 

James became governor of Massachusetts, increased his prop- 
erty, and left a large fortune to his son James. This wealthy 
young man graduated at Oxford University in England, travelled 
extensively through Europe ; purchased a large and very valua- 
ble library, particularly rich in French literature and science. 
He also had a gallery of seventy elegant paintings, and a col- 
lection of fine models of crystallography. All these he be- 
queathed to Bowdoin College, with seven thousand acres of 
land, and other property to the amount of about five thousand 
five hundred dollars, and several valuable articles of philosophi- 
cal apparatus. 1 

1 Decade of Addresses, by Dr. Allen, p. 267. 



404 THE n I STORY OF MAINE. 

Rev. Joseph McKeen, D.D., was the first president of the 
college. He was distinguished for his noble character and his 
superior attainments. Under the succeeding presidents, the 
college has taken rank among the highest institutions in our 




land. This is not the place to enter into the details of its his- 
tory ; but we cannot refrain from saying that the present 
incumbent of this difficult and responsible office, Gov. Cham- 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



405 



berlain, has alike distinguished himself as a college professor, as 
a major-general guiding patriot troops on the field of battle, as 
governor of the State of Maine, and now as president of the 
college. The accompanying illustration gives a correct view of 
the college buildings. 

Maine seems to have been regarded as a peculiarly favored 
region. Population flowed into it so fast, that, in the next 
thirteen months, nineteen new towns were incorporated, nearly 




SCENERY AT ABBOTT FAMILY SCHOOL, FARMINGTON, ME. 



all of which contained at least five hundred inhabitants. One 
of these, Farmington, deserves rather special notice. Upon the 
rich meadows through which the sandy river glides, the corn- 
fields of the Canabus Indians formerly waved in the breeze. 
This beautiful village has become quite renowned for its cluster 
of literary institutions. 

Farmington Academy was incorporated in 1807, and for about 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



407 



half a century enjoyed a high reputation for its classical, math- 
ematical, and scientific instruction. It was then merged into 
the Western Normal School. A view of the building will be 
found annexed. 

Another institution, a family school for boys, called Little 
Blue, has obtained celebrity far beyond the limits of the State. 
The most prominent object in the landscape of this region is 
Mount Blue. Upon the grounds upon which the beautiful clus- 
ter of school edifices is reared, there is a winding brook, a small 
pond, and a very singular natural mound, seventy or eighty feet 
high, covered with dense forest. To this mound the name of 
Little Blue was given, and hence the name of the school. The 
institution is sometimes called the " Abbott Family School," as 
the original building was the residence of the Rev. Jacob Ab- 
bott ; and his brother Samuel established the school. It is 
impossible, without a series of views, to give a correct idea of 
the varied and picturesque beauty of the grounds. The place 
embraces about five acres. We give a view of the principal 
buildings. 

THE WENDELL INSTITUTE. 

One of the most prosperous and popular of the educational 
seminaries of Farmington is the Wendell Institute. This sem- 
inary was established, in the first instance, as a private school, 
by two young ladies, the Misses May. These ladies evinced a 
remarkable aptitude for the work of organizing and managing 
their school ; and it grew rapidly in public favor, and soon began 
to draw scholars from the surrounding towns. 

At length, at the time of the reception of a valuable donation 
from Dr. Abraham Wendell, a native of Farmington, though at 
that time, and for several years previously, residing in Peru, 
S. A., a charter was obtained for the institution under the style 
and title of the Wendell Institute. Much additional aid was 
also rendered by the relatives of Mr. Wendell, in furthering the 
plans of the teachers; and the institute is now in a very prosper- 
ous condition. It is still under the charge of the original found- 
ers of it, the Misses May. 

There is another institution recently established in Farming- 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



409 



ton, as a family school for girls, which is probably destined to 
accomplish important results. It is called " The Willows," 
from a very magnificent grove of willow trees near which it 
stands. The institution is yet in its infancy ; but it has one 
of the most costly and best school buildings in the State. Its 
location, as regards beauty of scenery, and purity of air and 
water, is all that could be desired. Under its present efficient 
management it can hardly fail to prove a success, notwithstand- 
ing the multitude of rival schools which are rising all over our 
land. 

Of the new towns incorporated in 1794, Alfred was named 
from Alfred the Great. Bridgeton took its name from Mr. 
Moody Bridges, of Andover, Mass., one of its chief proprietors. 
Prospect was so called from the beautiful scenery which, from 
one of its eminences, charmed the e} T e of every beholder. 
Hampden honors the name of England's illustrious son, John 
Hampden. Newfield, Cornish, New Sharon, Unit}^ Dresden, 
and Alna, were wilderness regions which poor emigrants had 
penetrated for the sake of cheap land, and where, having cut 
clearings in the forest, they reared their log huts, planted their 
wheat and corn amidst the blackened stumps, and, with great 
toil, obtained but frugal fare. 

In the year 1795, Poland, Litchfield, Lewiston, Steuben, 
Fayette, Livermore, Starks, and Clinton, were incorporated. 
Lands in Maine were in great demand. In twelve years after 
the close of the war, the Commonwealth sold three million five 
hundred thousand acres. Troubles in Europe were causing a 
great flood of emigration to this country. 

Lewiston became one of the most important manufacturing 
districts in the State. The Androscoggin has here a natural fall 
of forty feet in a distance of two hundred feet. By aid of a 
dam this has been increased to fifty feet. This valuable fall is 
utilized, by machinery of various kinds, to the amount of five 
thousand four hundred and fifty horse-power. And this is 
secure against any contingencies of ice or flood. Lewiston is 
connected with the seaboard by two lines of railway ; one lead- 
ing to Bath, and the other to Portland. It is distant from Bos- 
ton, by rail, six and a half hours, from Portland one and a half, 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



411 



and from Bath one and a quarter. There are in the place, in- 
cluding Auburn, which is on the other side of the river, fifteen 
manufacturing companies, with an aggregate capital of over 
seven million dollars. Between five and six thousand hands are 
employed. The population, by the last census, was twenty-one 
thousand. 1 

Lewiston is also the seat of an important literary and scien- 
tific institution, called the Maine State Seminary, which was 
incorporated and endowed by the State in the year 1855. 

A controversy arose, about this time, between the Indians on 
the Penobscot and the government respecting land titles. The 
government claimed, that, by the treaty of 1785, the Indians had 
no lands remaining excepting the islands in the Penobscot 
River ; but the chiefs claimed the territory from the head of 
the tide, six miles in width on each side of the river, upward, 
indefinitely into the northern wilderness. Three commissioners 
were appointed to meet the chiefs. The question was amicably 
settled. The commissioners assented to the claim of the In- 
dians, and, for a small sum, purchased its relinquishment with 
a few modifications. This tribe, called the Tarratines, which, at 
the commencement of the Revolution, could bring four hundred 
warriors into the field, had dwindled down to but about three 
hundred and fifty men, women, and children. The territory 
which the Indians relinquished, by this treaty, amounted to one 
hundred and eighty-nine thousand, four hundred and twenty- 
six acres. 

Still the tide of emigration and prosperity was flowing into 
Maine. The next year, 1796, seven new towns were incorpo- 
rated. These were Belgrade, Harlem (which was twenty miles 
beyond any other settlement, and which was buried in a forest 
swarming with moose, bears, and wolves), Castine, Northport, 
Eden, on Mount Desert, so named from its beautiful scenery, 
and Bethel. These were all incorporated on the 10th of June. 
Soon after, June 17, Addison, Augusta, Waterford, Norway, and 
Harrington were incorporated. 

Augusta has become one of the largest, wealthiest, most intel- 



1 The Water Power of Maine, p. 394. 



412 



THE II I STORY OF MAINE. 



lectual and most beautiful cities in the State. It is the shire- 
town of the county, and the capital of Maine. The river is 
spanned by a fine bridge, and elegant mansions are found on 
both sides of the river. The State House, of granite, stands 
in a commanding position, on a plateau on the western banks. 
A water-power of great value is established here, by the con- 
struction of a dam entirely across the river. The length of the 
Augusta dam is 584 feet, and its height fifteen feet. The water- 
power thus afforded is of immense value, and must eventually 
give employment to a very large manufacturing population. 

Improvements on this power are now in prospect on an im- 
mense scale. Six hundred acres of land have been purchased 
around it. The power can be enormously increased by connect- 
ing with it nearly three hundred square miles of lakes which 
are tributary to the Kennebec. It can hardly be doubted that 
Augusta is destined eventually to be one of the largest manu- 
facturing cities in the United States. 1 

Among other public buildings of much interest in Augusta, 
there may be mentioned the United States Arsenal. This 
building is situated on beautiful grounds on the eastern bank 
of the river. " The insane hospital is an honor to the State 
and to humanity." It has pleasure grounds seventy acres in 
extent. The scene of landscape beauty presented from the 
gentle eminence upon which the hospital stands can hardly be 
surpassed. An awful calamity occurred here in the 3-ear 1850, 
when the building was consumed by fire, and twenty-eight of 
the inmates, including one of the keepers, were burned. 

Eight new towns were incorporated in the year 1798, — 
Wayne, Otisfield, Eastport, Cornville, Hollis, Anson, Hartford, 
and Sumner. In 1799 Kennebec county was established, with 
Augusta for its shire-town. Lisbon was the only town incorpo- 
rated this year. On the 14th of December George Washington 
died, and all America was clothed in mourning. The popula- 
tion of Elaine, in the year 1800, amounted to one hundred and 
fifty-one thousand seven hundred and nineteen. 2 Maine was 

1 See "Water Power of Maine, p. 175. 

2 York County contained 87,729; Cumberland, 79,921; Kennebec, 24.394; Lin- 
coln, 30,100; Hancock, 16,310; "Washington, 4,436. — Williamson, voL iL p. 589. 



414 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



now entitled to four representatives in Congress ; still new 
towns were born with wonderful rapidity. Rumford, Orland, 
Ellsworth, and Lovell came into being in the year 1800, and 
the next year gave birth to Strong and Leeds. 

Maine was now enjoying peace and great prosperity. Ten 
towns were incorporated in the year 1802. These were Minot, 
Chesterville, Brownfield, Vienna, Avon, New Vineyard, Dan- 
ville, Baldwin, Lincolnville, and Waterville. This last town 
constituted the one hundred and thirty-eighth. It is one of the 
most beautiful towns in the State, and is the site of a well- 
endowed and highly flourishing college. The institution is 
under the control cf the Baptists, but is open to the students 
of all denominations. The name of " Colby Universit}-" is 
taken in honor of one of its most munificent patrons. The sit- 
uation of the buildings, on the western bank of the river, is 
singularly beautiful. 

Twent} r -one towns were incorporated in the year 1804. The 
very important and opulent town of Gardiner was named from 
Dr. Sylvester Gardiner, to whom most of the township was 
granted, near the year 1754, by the Plymouth Company. Robert 
H. Gardiner, one of the most distinguished citizens of Maine, 
revered for his intelligence, his public spirit, and his Christian 
probity, came into possession of the place by inheritance, in the 
year 1803. There were then but about six hundred inhabitants 
in the limits of the territory. The town owes much of its pros- 
perity to Mr. Gardiner, and his generous devotion to all its 
interests. 

His energies and wealth gave impulse to every branch of 
business. Mills rose, dams were built, machine-shops con- 
structed ; and a commanding eminence was adorned with a fine 
Gothic church of stone, which is considered one of the most 
beautiful buildings in New England. The falls of Cobbossee- 
conte gave this place its peculiar value. 

The other towns incorporated this year, were St. George, 
Harmony, Temple, Albany, Industry, Raymond, Surry, Dixfield, 
Wilton, Rome, Madison, Albion, Unity, Embden, Mercer, Hope, 
Palermo, East Andover (now called Andover), and Gilead. 
The next year but two towns were incorporated, Harrison and 
Newry. 



416 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Improvements were rapidly advancing all over the State. 
Bridges, roads, turnpikes, canals, and booms were constructed. 
These last were of immense importance. They consisted of 
chains of logs crossing the rivers upon which there were saw- 
mills, to prevent the logs, cut in the winter, and swept down 
by the spring freshets, from being carried out to sea. 

In the year 1805, Oxford County was organized, and Paris 
was made its shire-town. Orono, which had previously been 




COBBOSSEE CONTEE FALLS, GARDINER, ME. 

called Stillwater, was incorporated in 1S06. This was a noted 
place in the days of the Indians. It was about the year 1775 
when the first white settler ventured to rear his cabin in those 
awful solitudes. The renowned chief Orono had his residence 
here. He seems to have been a man of many virtues. From 
him the town takes its harmonious name. 

Eight towns were incorporated in the year 1807 : Montville, 
Denmark, Porter, Jefferson, Friendship, Hiram, Dixmont, Pal- 
myra. Three were incorporated in 1808, — Pownal, Freeman, 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



417 



and New Portland. The county of Somerset was established 
in 1809, and Norridgewock was appointed its shire-town. There 
were also incorporated the towns of Windsor, Jonesborongh, 
Calais, and Whitefield. 

A census was taken in the year 1810 ; and it was found that 
the State contained two hundred and twenty-eight thousand, six 
hundred and eighty-seven inhabitants. One town only, Eliot, 
was incorporated this year. The next year, however, nine were 
added to the prosperous State. These were Exeter, Charleston, 
Garland, Robbinston, Eddington, Washington, Corinth, Carmel, 
and Lubec. Seven towns were incorporated in the year 1812 ; 
namely, Bingham, Troy, Brewer, Dearborn, Phillips, Sebec, and 
Foxcroft. There were, at this time, a hundred and ninety-four 
municipal towns. Since the close of the Revolutionary war, a 
period of but thirty years, a hundred and fifty-four had been 
incorporated. 

The outrages which England had for years been inflicting 
upon our commerce, and her practice of impressing our seamen 
at her pleasure, had become unendurable. On the 18th of June, 
1812, Congress passed an act declaring that war existed between 
Great Britain and the United States. Maine was called upon 
to furnish two thousand five hundred militia. As we now look 
back upon those days, it seems strange that a single word could 
have been uttered in favor of submitting to those outrages in 
which England was trampling upon our most sacred rights. 

Four towns were incorporated in 1813, — Sweden, Freedom, 
Levant, and St. Albany. To meet the immediate expenses of 
the war, the National Government assessed a tax of seventy-four 
thousand two hundred and twenty dollars on Maine. It is said 
that more soldiers were enlisted in the District of Maine, accord- 
ing to its population, than in any of the States. Troops were 
established at most of the important maritime towns. The 
whole number of militia, ever ready to march, amounted to 
twenty-one thousand one hundred and twenty-one men. 

There was a British brig called " The Boxer," which had been 
for some time cruising along our coast, committing great depre- 
dations. The brig, which mounted eighteen guns, and had a 
crew of a hundred and four men, was commanded by Capt. 



418 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Blythe, who was twenty-nine years of age. The American brig 
" Enterprise,"' which carried sixteen guns and a hundred and 
two men, was at anchor in Portland Harbor. It was commanded 
by Capt. Burrows, twenty-eight years of age. 1 " The Boxer" 
was ordered to cruise off the harbor for the purpose of bringing 
" The Enterprise " to an engagement. The two vessels met on 
the 5th of September, 1814, and at three o'clock in the after- 
noon commenced action within half pistol shot. 

For thirty-five minutes they poured their deadly broadsides 
into each other. Both captains were shot down, and the decks 
were covered with blood. " The Boxer " then struck her colors, 
having lost, in killed and wounded, besides her captain, forty- 
six men, nearly half her crew. On " The Enterprise " only two 
were killed and twelve wounded. The next day the victorious 
brig returned, with her prize, to Portland. The public exulta- 
tion was chilled by the death of the intrepid Capt. Burrows. 
The remains of both the officers were buried, side by side, with 
militar} r honors, and a monument raised to their memory. 

The general history of this war belongs to the history of the 
United States rather than to that of Maine. But in many 
respects the conflict was disastrous to the District. Maine was 
peculiarly a commercial district, and commerce was annihilated 
by the war. Money became scarce, prices high, and many of 
the rich became poor, and the poor suffered severely. The 
English declared the whole of our Atlantic coast in a state of 
blockade. The entire seaboard was infested by British cruisers. 
Still, in this sad world of sin and sorrow, adversity often intro- 
duces renewed prosperity. There is, however, but little comfort 
in the thought that the prosperity of one must be purchased at 
the expense of the ruin of another. The destruction of our 
commerce rendered it necessary for us to engage, more than 
ever before, in mechanic arts and manufacturing establishments. 
Thus England "gained a loss" in this cruel war. 

The government of Great Britain claimed the right of stop- 
ping, by the menace of her guns, any American vessel found 
upon the seas, of sending a lieutenant on board, who would 

1 Diary of Rev. Samuel Deane, p. 403. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



419 



muster the crew before him, and pick out any number he was 
pleased to say were of English birth. These he would seize, 
drag on board the British men-of-war, and compel them to fight 
Britain's battles. Where resistance was attempted the cudgel 
and cutlass were freely used. Official records prove that more 
than a thousand American citizens were thus torn from home and 
friends, and were compelled for years to man British guns, and, 
when war was opened against America, to fight their own 
countrymen. Even our armed vessels were thus searched, and 
fired upon if they refused to submit. Over six thousand men 
were thus taken from the American vessels upon the simple 
assertion of a British lieutenant, that he considered them subjects 
of Great Britain. 

It was in the enforcement of such an atrocious claim as this r 
that the British Government commenced war against the United 
States ; thus blighting the prospects of humanity, filling lonely 
farmhouses with widows and orphans, and creating an amount 
of wretchedness which can never can be known until, at the 
Day of Judgment, all things shall be brought to light. It is hard 
for any one, whose heart is. moved by the moans and tears of 
the helpless, to forgive such crimes on the part of haughty foes, 
who were rioting amidst the splendors of their castles and their 
palaces. 

The victims of this impressment were not allowed any trial. 
There was no chance for any appeal. A pert young lieutenant 
from a British war-vessel, followed by his armed band, would 
descend the deck of any American vessel, pick out from the 
crew any men he pleased, and saying, " 1 think these men are 
Englishmen," carry them off. 

We give England's plea in justification of this outrage, in the 
language in which the prince regent himself, subsequently the 
infamous George IV., endeavors to soften down its atrocities. 
In a cabinet manifesto dated Jan. 8, 1813, he wrote, — 

"lam surprised that the exercise of the undoubted and hitherto undis- 
puted right of searching neutral merchant-vessels in time of war, and the 
impressment of British seamen when found therein, could be deemed any 
violation of a neutral flag ; or to take such seamen from on board such 
vessels, could be considered by any neutral state as a hostile measure, or 
a justifiable cause of war." 



420 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



In the year 1813, the taxable property in Maine amounted to 
one million five hundred thousand dollars. 1 Notwithstanding 
the desolations of war, nine towns were this year incorporated ; 
namely, Phippsburg, — where the earliest colony ever attempted 
in Maine was located, and where Popham's fort was reared, — 
Searmont, Belmont, Bloomfield, South Berwick, "Westbrook, 
Sangerville, Hermon, and Newport. 

The Bloomfield region was called by the Indians, Wessarunset. 
The first settlers, in 1771, were so delighted with the beauty and 
fertility of the country, that they called it Canaan. In the year 
1777, several men were captured by the Indians, and carried 
to Canada. They were however, it is believed, all eventually 
restored to their friends. In the year 1807, an academy was 
incorporated here, which obtained much celebrity throughout 
the State. 

South Berwick was in a region called Quampeagan by the 
Indians. Here also a flourishing academy was established. 
From the beginning Maine has manifested great zeal in the 
education of her sons and daughters. 

During the first two years of the war Maine was not actually 
invaded by the enemy, though often menaced. A small military 
force was stationed at Eastport. Major Perley Putnam, of 
Salem, was in command, with two companies of militia. 

On the 11th of July, 1814, a British fleet of five war-vessels 
and several transports anchored abreast of Eastport, and de- 
manded the surrender of the fort, allowing jive, minutes for an 
answer. 2 Major Putnam did not need even that time to reply, 
" The fort will be defended against whatever force may be 
brought against it." But the inhabitants rose promptly in 
strong remonstrance against resisting an armament, which, in an 
hour, could lay the whole town in ashes. Major Putnam was 
thus compelled to strike his flag. 

Eastport was very eligibly situated on Moose Island, which 
the British claimed belonged to them by the treaty of 1783. 

1 "Williamson, vol. ii. p. 636. 

2 The fleet consisted of " The Bamilies," a seventy-four-gun ship, having on 
hoard the Commodore, Sir Thomas Hardy ; "The Martin," a sloop-of-war ; the 
brigs " Bover," "Breame," and "Terror;" a bomb-ship, and several transports 
crowded with troops. 



TEE EI STORY OF MAINE. 



421 



They took possession of the place and all the public property it 
contained, hoisted the British flag, dragged the American sol- 
diers on board their prison-ships, and commanded all the inhabit- 
ants of Moose Island, and of the other islands in Passamaquoddy 
Bay, to assemble at the schoolhouse in Eastport on the 16th 
instant, and take the oath of allegiance to his Britannic Majesty, 
or within seven days to depart from the islands. 1 About two- 
thirds of the islanders submitted to this requirement. 

The success of this expedition encouraged the British to fit 
out another against Penobscot (now Castine) and Machias. 
The fleet consisted of three seventy-four-gun ships, two frigates, 
two sloops-of-war, an armed schooner, a large tender, and ten 
transports. The number of troops embarked were probably 
about three thousand five hundred, though some have placed 
the number as high as six thousand. 2 On the 1st of September, 
1814, this formidable armament cast anchor in the harbor of 
Castine. Successful resistance was impossible. The garrison 
blew up the fort, and fled back into the country. The British 
took undisputed possession. One of the generals then, with six 
hundred men, crossed the -bay and captured Belfast. They 
plundered the unfortunate town, and returned to Castine. This 
was the second time this quiet village had been ravaged by this 
British soldiery. Their first visit was in 1780, when their 
brutal treatment drove the inhabitants into the woods. 

The fleet ascended the bay and river until the ships were 
within about fifteen miles of Bangor. They cast anchor near 
Hampden Village, and landed a strong force. The Hampden 
militia made a feeble resistance, but were soon dispersed by the 
fire of the British regulars. The conflict of an hour placed 
Hampden at the mercy of the enemy. They plundered the 
houses and the stores, killed the cattle, treated the most prom 
inent citizens with shameful abuse, burned several vessels, and 
spared others by extorting a bond of twelve thousand dollars. 
The loss which the little village of Hampden experienced from 

1 The British claimed all the islands in Passamaquoddy Bay as within their 
boundary line. 

2 It is certain that the forces consisted of the Sixty-second and Ninety-eighth 
Begiments, two rifle companies of the Sixtieth Begiment, and a detachment of 
royal artillery. 



422 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



this raid was estimated to amount to forty-four thousand dollars. 
A committee of the citizens waited upon the British commander, 
Capt. Barrie, and implored him to treat the community with 
more humanity. He angrily replied : — 

" Humanity ! I have none for you. My business is to burn, sink, and 
destroy. Your town is taken by storm. By the rules of war we ought to 
lay your village in ashes, and put its inhabitants to the sword. But I will 
spare your lives, though I mean to burn your houses." 

An order came from the more merciful British commander at 
Castine, Gen. Sherbroke, not to burn the houses. The vessels 
again spread their sails to ascend the river, while two-thirds 
of the troops marched along by land. No terms were allowed 
to Bangor but unconditional surrender. The ships anchored at 
the mouth of the Kenduskeag. A few Congreve rockets were 
thrown over the village, as an intimation of the doom which 
awaited the citizens should they attempt any resistance. 

The best buildings in the place were taken as barracks for 
the soldiers. All public property was seized. One hundred 
and ninety-one of the principal men were compelled to sign a 
document declaring themselves prisoners of war, and stipulating 
not to serve against tlie British Government until exchanged. 

But little respect was paid to private property. Many stores 
were plundered ; and several vessels were saved from the flames 
only by giving a bond to the amount of thirty thousand dollars, 
that four, which were on the stocks, should be delivered at 
Castine. Fourteen vessels were burned, mostly on the Brewer 
side of the river ; and six were carried to Castine. 1 It was esti- 
mated that the losses at Bangor amounted to forty-five thou- 
sand dollars. 

After a stay of about thirty hours in Bangor, the fleet de- 
scended the river to Frankfort. Here they took from the people 

1 In this case, as in most other narratives of deeds of violence, there is some 
slight diversity in the details. There is, however, here no question in regard to 
the general and important facts. The narrative, as -\ve give it, is probably as 
accurate as can now be ascertained. Williamson gives the following summary: 
"Burnt, the brig 'Caravan,' ' Kep tune's Barge,' 'Thinks I to Myself,' 'Eunice 
and Polly,' 'The Gladiator,' ' The Three Brothers,' the sloop 'Ranger,' three un- 
launched vessels in Brewer, and one in Bangor. There were also three others hi 
the harbor that were destroyed; fourteen in all." — Williamson, vol. ii. p. 6±8. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



423 



forty oxen, one hundred sheep, and an indefinite amount of 
poultry. On the 7th, the ships returned from this marauding 
excursion to Castine. 

The inhabitants of the Kennebec valley were terror-stricken. 
It was apprehended that the same fleet would visit their river 
with the same destruction. The whole surrounding region was 
kept for a time, in a state of great alarm. Wiscasset was 
menaced ; and the militia from a region of nearly thirty miles 
around flocked to its defence. 

The region between Passamaquoddy Bay and the Penobscot 
River had passed under the control of the English. Castine 
was made a port of entry. Several war-vessels guarded the 
harbor, and two thousand two hundred troops were placed there 
in garrison. The British commander organized a provincial 
government for the territory. All the male inhabitants over 
sixteen years of age were compelled to take the oath of alle- 
giance to the British king. A custom-house was opened at 
Hampden for the introduction of British goods. 

Castine became quite a gay resort for the officers of the 
British army and navy. A temporary theatre was opened, and 
there were music and dancing. Many of the officers were gentle- 
men by birth, culture, and instinctive sentiment. On the 11th 
of February, 1815, news reached our country that peace was 
established by the treaty of Ghent, which was signed on the 24th 
of December, 1814. The glad tidings were received with every 
demonstration of joy, throughout the whole country. The 
British troops evacuated Castine on the 25th of April, after an 
encampment there of eight months. 

War is always demoralizing. The two great vices which this 
war augmented throughout Maine were intemperance and pro- 
faneness. But Maine sustained no diminution in her population. 
The loss experienced from the casualties of war was more than 
made up by immigration. In 1815 Woodstock was incorpo- 
rated. Twelve new towns were organized in the year 1816. 
These were, Kingfield, Moscow, Wales, Greenwood, Weld, 
Guilford, Cherry field, Dexter, North Hill, Brooks, Corinna, and 
Ripley. 

There were now two hundred and twenty-one towns in the 



424 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



State. The whole number of legal voters was thirty-seven 
thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight. The following ques- 
tion was submitted to the people, convened in their several 
towns and plantations, — 

" Is it expedient that the District of Maine be separated from 
Massachusetts, and become an independent State ? " 1 

The unexpected result of this vote was, 11,969 yeas, and 
10,347 nays. A convention was chosen to assemble in the 
meeting-house at Brunswick, count the votes, and, if a majority 
of five to four were found in favor of separation, to appoint a 
committee to draft a constitution. Though the majority was 
less than the statute required, the convention declared the vote 
to be in favor of an independent State, and chose two com- 
mittees ; one to draft a constitution, and one to apply to Con- 
gress for admission into the Union. A large minority protested 
against these measures ; and the General Court, being then in 
session, disapproved of the illegal decision, and dissolved the 
convention. 

There arose at this time what was called the " Ohio fever." 
Hundreds were seized with the almost insane desire to emigrate 
to Ohio. The journey, generally taken in wagons covered with 
canvas, was long, expensive, and exhausting. Often the suffer- 
ings by the way were very severe. The flat, rich, alluvial plains 
of Ohio seemed to be covered with a malarious atmosphere. 
Whole families often wilted down together, now shaking with 
exhaustive chills, and again burning with fever. Many mourned 
the day in which they departed from the healthy, invigorating 
breezes of Maine. But return was impossible. Their means 
were entirely exhausted. It is estimated that Maine lost 
between ten and fifteen thousand inhabitants by this sad infat- 
uation. 

There was a dispute respecting the north-eastern boundary 
of the State, which subsequently came near involving us in 
another war with England. There was but one town, Brooks- 

1 Such is the form of this question, as given hy the accurate Mr. "Williamson. 
The form suggested hy the General Court was, "Shall the Legislature he requested 
to give its consent to the separation of the District of Maiue from Massachusetts, 
and the creation of said district into a separate State? " 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



425 



ville, incorporated in the year 1817 ; but the next year seven 
were established, — China, Monroe, Perry, Mexico, Dennysville, 
Swanville, and Jackson. 

The Indian tribes had dwindled almost to extinction. Of the 
Penobscot Indians but about two hundred and fifty remained. 
Two-thirds of these were women and children. They had 
become a dispirited, humiliated, and inefficient people, supported 
mainly by charity. Quite readily they relinquished their claim 
to all the extensive territory still recognized as theirs, for four 
townships, each six miles square, and for a yearly contribution 
of five hundred bushels of corn, fifteen barrels of flour, seven 
of pork, one hogshead of molasses, a hundred yards of broad- 
cloth, fifty blankets, a hundred pounds of gunpowder, four 
hundred of shot, one hundred and fifty of tobacco, six boxes 
of chocolate, and fifty dollars in silver. 

Henceforth the Indians cease to be of any consideration in 
the history of the State. The dwindling families became pub- 
lic paupers ; and now probably not a single full-blooded Indian 
can be found in all the wide realms of Maine, over which, two 
centuries ago, they roamed- in almost undisputed power. In 
the year 1819, another effort was made for separation. Seven- 
teen thousand and ninety-one votes were cast. Of these but 
seven thousand one hundred and thirty-two were nays. A 
committee of thirty-three, selected from each county, was chosen 
to report a constitution. John Holmes, one of the most dis- 
tinguished sons of Maine, was chairman. This document was 
submitted to the people, and ratified by a large majority of 
votes. 

Gov. Brooks announced the event in his message to the Gen- 
eral Court, in January, 1819. After alluding in almost affec- 
tionate terms to the harmony which had so long prevailed 
between Massachusetts and her foster-child, he added, — 

"But the time of separation is at hand. Conformably to the memorable 
act of June 19 last, the sixteenth day of March next will terminate for- 
ever the political unity of Massachusetts proper and the District of Maine; 
and that District, which is bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, will 
assume her rank as an independent State in the American confederacy." 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



PEACE AND PROSPERITY. 



William King — William D. Williamson — The Maine of Half a Century Ago 
— A Journey to Boston — Succeeding Governors — The Aroostook War — 
Origin of the Difficulty — Warlike Measure — Interesting Incidents — The 
Truce — Final Settlement. 

T I ^HE first governor of Maine was William King. He is 



often spoken of as " the first and best of our governors." 
He was born in Scarborough, in the year 1768. Native strength 
of mind and elevated character supplied the place of a liberal 
education. He was one of the most prominent in advocating 
the separation. With superior business qualifications, he be- 
came opulent, and when elected he was a prosperous merchant 
in Bath. He resigned the office upon being appointed one of 
the commissioners of the National Government on the Spanish 
claims. 

The remainder of the term Mr. William D. Williamson, Pres- 
ident of the Senate, became acting governor. Mr. Williamson 
became the author of the voluminous and admirable history of 
the State, which will ever secure to him the gratitude of the 
sons of Maine. One of the first acts of the Legislature was 
the adoption of a State seal. The moose, the noblest animal in 
our forests, and the majestic pine-tree, the most valuable of our 
timber, became the central figures. An anchor and a scythe, as 
the emblems of commerce and agriculture, were placed upon 
either side. Above, the north star shines, signifying the posi- 
tion which Maine occupies in the constellation of the States. 
Two figures, representing a sailor and a farmer, are conspicuous. 
Over all is the Latin word " Dirigo " (I lead). 

The Maine of half a century ago was very different from the 

426 




THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



427 



Maine of the present day. Before the Revolution there was 
not a four-wheeled passenger carriage in the State. Two- 
wheeled chaises were not introduced into Portland until 1760. 
They were then not in common use, but were articles of luxury 
which were brought only on festive occasions. It was about 
the year 1800 when the first four-wheeled carriage was seen in 
the streets of Augusta. Men and women generally journeyed 
on horseback. The women sat on pillions behind the men. The 
horse-block, for mounting, was a very important adjunct to the 
churches. 

It was deemed a memorable event when, in the year 1787, 
a stage-coach was established to run between Portland and 
Portsmouth. The line was extended to Augusta in 1806. At 
a very early hour in the morning the stage left Augusta, and in 
four or five hours, if the travelling were good, reached Bruns- 
wick to breakfast. At Freeport they dined ; worn and weary 
they reached Portland in the evening to lodge for the night. 
Starting the next morning at an early hour, the coach stopped 
at Kennebunk for breakfast, and Portsmouth for dinner, and 
lodged at Newburyport the second night. At two o'clock the 
next morning the coach again started, breakfasted in the early 
dawn at Salem, and reached Boston about noon of the third 
day. In the year 1823, Capt. Seward Porter commenced run- 
ning a steamboat, " The Patent," from Portland to Boston. 
Five passengers were considered a very goodly company. The 
boat was about a hundred tons burden. In the years 1823 and 
1824, queer looking little steamboats, with stern-wheels, began 
to run up the Kennebec River. 

The second governor of Maine was Albion K. Parris. He 
was elected in the year 1822. A farmer's son, born in Hebron, 
Me., he worked on the fields of his father until he was four- 
teen years of age. At fifteen he entered Harvard College. At 
twenty-six he was chosen representative in the national Con- 
gress ; at thirty he was appointed judge of the United States Dis- 
trict Court ; and when but thirty-three years old he was elected 
governor. He was a man of great energy, of indomitable per- 
severance, and of great administrative ability. His unblemished 
integrity and courteous manners secured the affection and 
respect of all who knew him. 



428 THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 

Enoch Lincoln succeeded Gov. Parris in 1827. He was a 
very able man, a well-read lawyer, and had enjoyed the educa- 
tional advantages of a seat in the national Congress. His mes- 




sages were much admired for the comprehensive views they 
presented in language remarkably terse and expressive. 

Jonathan G. Hunton, of Readfleld, succeeded Mr. Lincoln. 
Under his administration Sebago Pond was connected by a 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



429 



canal with Casco Bay. In the year 1831, Samuel E. Smith was 
chosen governor, and was re-elected in 1834. During Mr. 
Smith's term of office the seat of government was removed from 
Portland to Augusta. The State House, built of the finest 
granite, cost about a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. 
Half of this sum was paid from the proceeds of the sale of ten 
acres of land. It is a beautiful building ; but, unfortunately, it 
is never approached from its front, and the side views are not 
imposing. 

Robert P. Dunlap, of Brunswick, succeeded Mr. Smith in the 
chair of chief magistrate. His irreproachable character and 
suavity of manners rendered him very popular, and he continued 
to fill the responsible office for four years. Under his adminis- 
tration our first scientific survey was undertaken, and the admir- 
able asylum for the insane was instituted at Augusta. In 1838, 
Edward Kent of Bangor was chosen governor. He was suc- 
ceeded in 1839 by John Fairfield of Saco. 

The question respecting our north-eastern boundary had for 
some time been attracting much attention. It soon culminated 
in a series of measures which threatened to involve the United 
States in another war with Great Britain. These events demand 
some minuteness of narrative. 1 

What was called the Aroostook War was quite a memorable 
event in the history of Maine. By the treaty of 1783, at the 
close of the Revolutionary struggle, one-half of the St. John's 
River belonged to Maine ; but, at the close of the war of 1812, 
Great Britain claimed the whole, including both banks. There 
was, at this time, on the north or eastern side of the river, an 
American settlement of scattered log huts, extending for a dis- 
tance of nearly twenty miles. The inhabitants were principally 
of French descent, and had emigrated to that American region 
when the English took possession of Acadia. 2 This plantation 
had been incorporated as the town of Madawaska, and a repre- 

1 For most of the facts of the Aroostook "War I am indebted to a lecture 
delivered in the Representatives Hall in Augusta, by Mr. George J. Varney of 
Brunswick. Mr. Varney is the author of the admirable " History of Maine for 
Young People." In this small volume he has, with great skill and accuracy, com- 
pressed most of the essential facts in the history of the State. 

2 Description of New England, by Coolidge and Mansfield, p. 969. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



431 



sentative was sent to the Legislature of Maine ; but the British 
authorities, in the vicinity, remonstrated against this, sent an 
armed force, and broke up the meetings. 

In June, 1837, Congress sent an officer to Madawaska to take 
a census of the people, and, at the same time, to distribute the 
surplus money which had accumulated in the United States 
treasury. A British constable arrested this agent, and carried 
his prisoner to the nearest English shire-town. But the sheriff 
there, alarmed in view of so reckless a procedure, refused to 
receive the prisoner ; and he returned to Madawaska, and con- 
tinued to prosecute his mission. 

Gov. Harvey of New Brunswick, hearing of the distribution 
of money to the people, assumed that it was a bribe to induce 
the inhabitants to continue their allegiance to the United States. 
He therefore ordered the agent to be re-arrested, and he was 
lodged in Frederickton jail. Gov. Dunlap, who then occupied 
the gubernatorial chair of Maine, issued a general order an- 
nouncing that the soil of our State had been invaded by a 
foreign power. The militia were therefore called upon to hold 
themselves in readiness for active service. A flame of indigna- 
tion swept over the State. A few weeks after, the British 
authorities, influenced by a message from Pres. Van Bnren, set 
the imprisoned agent at liberty. There had been a great mus- 
tering of forces on both sides, and many ludicrous events which 
provoked much ridicule. But both parties wisely decided to 
refer the question to arbitration, and the Madawaska war was 
ended. 

After the war of 1812 the British claimed the whole of the 
upper part of the vast valley of the St. John. They demanded all 
the land above the forty-sixth degree of north latitude, which 
included about one-third of what was supposed to be the ter- 
ritory of Maine. The question in dispute was referred to Wil- 
liam, king of the Netherlands. He decided that the line should 
run about half way between the boundaries claimed by the two 
powers, which was a very strange decision. The question sub- 
mitted to him was, Which of the two boundaries is the one 
authorized by the treaty ? And he decided in favor of a line 
which the treaty certainly did not indicate, and which neither 



432 



THE nr STORY OF MAINE. 



of the parties had thought of. To enter into the details of this 
discussion would be very wearisome to the reader. 

The people of Maine were indignant at this decision. The 
national government, anxious to avoid war, generously offered 
Maine a million acres of land in Michigan, in exchange for the 
territory she would thus lose. This offer was declined, and 
prolonged negotiations ensued. Matters remaining unsettled, 
and there being some indications of an outbreak, Gov. Kent, in 
1838, took measures to increase the efficiency of the militia, 
and Gen. Wool was sent to inspect the fortifications on the 
Penobscot, the St. Croix, and the Kennebec. The line which 
Maine claimed by the treaty of 1773 was again surveyed. 

The territory thus in dispute became the prey of plunderers. 
The region of the Aroostook River was robbed of its most 
valuable lumber. The State Legislature, in secret session, au- 
thorized Sheriff Strickland to raise a force of two hundred volun- 
teers, drive off the trespassers, destroy their camps, and seize 
their teams. The command was placed under Capt. Stover Rines. 
The first company left Bangor on the 5th of February, 1839, 
and reached Masardis, then township No. 10, on the 8th. The 
trespassers, not aware of the force coming down upon them, 
made a slight show of resistance. The lumbermen and their 
teams were, however, easily captured. 

Capt. Rines advanced to the mouth of the Little Madawas- 
ka. Here he met with a reverse, was captured with a company 
of his men, and they were hurried off, in a sleigh, to Frederick- 
ton jail, in New Brunswick. The sheriff and his forces retreated. 
The trespassers, much elated, armed themselves, about three 
hundred in number, and bade defiance to the American author- 
ities. The sheriff, learning of the capture, retired to Number 
Ten, and fortified his party, while he repaired as rapidly as pos- 
sible to Augusta, to report the posture of affairs. 

Gov. Harvey, of New Brunswick, issued a proclamation, 
declaring that British territory had been invaded, and ordering 
out a thousand of the militia. Affairs now began to assume a 
very serious aspect. 

Immediately, though it was Sunday morning, fifty volunteers 
set out from Augusta, for the scene of action. At the same 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



433 



time Gov. Harvey sent a communication to the governor of 
Maine, at Augusta, demanding the recall of the American troops 
from the Aroostook, and announcing that he was instructed, by 
the British Government, to hold exclusive jurisdiction over the 
disputed territory, and that he should do so by military force. 

This roused to a high pitch the indignation of the people of 
Maine. The legislature passed a spirited resolve for the pro- 
tection of the public lands, and appropriated eight hundred 
thousand dollars to that purpose. A draft was also ordered for 
ten thousand three hundred and forty-three men from the mili- 
tia, to be ready for immediate action. Early Monday morning, 
the unwonted sound of the clarion of war was heard in the 
peaceful streets of Augusta, as the troops, by hundreds, then 
and there were " mustering in hot haste." 

Gen. Bachelder was commander of the western division of 
militia. It was midwinter in Maine, and bitter cold. The 
regular uniforms afforded no sufficient protection for a winter 
campaign, through drifted snows and freezing gales, in a region 
where the mercury often sank twenty-five or thirty degrees be- 
low zero. Extra garments were speedily supplied, of thick red 
shirts and pea-green jackets. Within a week ten thousand 
American troops were either in Aroostook County, or on the 
march there. 

The National Government was roused. Congress passed a 
bill authorizing the President of the United States, should the 
governor of New Brunswick fulfil his threat of maintaining 
exclusive jurisdiction over the territory in dispute, to raise fifty 
thousand troops for the support of Maine, and appropriating 
ten million dollars to meet the expense. On the 5th of March, 
Gen. Scott, with his staff, reached Augusta. He informed the 
governor that he w r as " specially charged with maintaining the 
peace and safety of the entire northern and eastern frontiers." 
He took quarters at the Augusta House, and immediately en- 
tered into correspondence with both Gov. Harvey of New Bruns- 
wick, and Gov. Fairfield of Maine. Having thirty thousand 
troops whom he could call into the field, he humanely endeav- 
ored to act the part of a peacemaker. The result was. that Gov. 
Harvey pledged himself, that, in prospect of the peaceful settle- 

28 



434 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



ment of the question between the two nations, he would not 
take military possession of the territory, or endeavor to expel 
from it the civil posse or the troops of Maine. On the other 
hand, Gov. Fairfield pledged himself that he would not, without 
renewed instructions, disturb any of the New Brunswick settle- 
ments in the Madawaska region. He agreed to withdraw his 
troops, and leave uninterrupted communication between New 
Brunswick and Canada. 

This settlement brought peace. The prisoners on both sides 
were set at liberty. In March, the Aroostook region, which 
had previously formed a portion of Penobscot and Washington 
Counties, was erected into a new county bearing its original 
name. It was generally supposed that the prompt military 
preparation we had made, which gave us unquestionably the 
command of the position, had great influence with the British 
authorities in securing a peaceful settlement. 

This, however, was but a temporary arrangement. The rival 
claims were still to be adjudicated. Two years passed away 
while the question continued to be discussed by the two gov- 
ernments. In the year 1841, William Henry Harrison was 
President of the United States, and Daniel Webster Secretary 
of State. The sudden death of Pres. Harrison introduced the 
Vice-President, John Tyler, to the Presidential chair. The 
importance of the boundary question induced Mr. Webster still 
to remain in the office of Secretary, though differing with Mr. 
Tyler in political views. In the year 1842 Lord Ash burton 
came to Washington, the British ambassador authorized to form 
a new treaty for the settlement of the boundary. An extra 
session was called of the legislature of Maine. Commissioners 
were appointed to confer with Lord Ashburton and Secretary 
Webster upon this subject. The troublesome question was soon 
brought to an amicable settlement. England greatly needed a 
portion of this territory, that there might be free communi- 
cation between New Brunswick and Canada. 

Maine surrendered a considerable tract which was of but 
little value. In compensation the United States received terri- 
tory of much greater value, on the borders of Lakes Champlain 
.and Superior. The National Government paid Maine one hun- 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



435 



dred and fifty thousand dollars for the surrender. The State 
also received two hundred thousand dollars, as re-imbursement 
for the expense she had incurred in defending the integrity of 
American territory. The Senate of the United States ratified 
the Ashburton Treaty, as it was called, on the 20th of August, 
18-42. Impartial judgment must pronounce the conduct of 
Maine, in this whole affair, to have been patriotic and wise. 

In the year 1841, Mr. Edward Kent again filled the chair of 
chief executive. The subsequent governors have been : — 



1843. Edward Kavanagh (Acting) 

1844. Hugh J. Anderson 
1847. John W- Dana 
1850. John Hubbard 
1853. W. G. Crosby 

1855. Anson P. Morrill 

1856. Samuel Wells 

1857. Hannibal Hamlin 

1857. Joseph S. Williams (Acting) 

1858. Lot M. Morrill 
18C1. Israel Washburn 

1863. Abner Colburn 

1864. Samuel Cony . 
1869. Joshua L. Chamberlain 
1871. Sidney Perham 
1874. Kelson Dingly, jun. 



Newcastle. 

Belfast. 

Fryeburg. 

Hallowell. 

Belfast. 

Keadfield. 

Portland. 

Hampden. 

Augusta. 

Augusta. 

Orono. 

Skowhegan. 

Augusta. 

Brunswick. 

Paris. 

Lewiston. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



THE SCANDINAVIAN IMMIGRATION. 



Origin of the Movement — The Plan adopted — Mission of Mr. Thomas to 
Sweden — Wise Measures Triumphantly Successful — The Voyage of the 
Immigrants — Their Hospitable Reception — New Sweden — The Primeval 
Forest — Labors of the Colonists — Their Industry and Prosperity — Increas- 
ing Immigration — Interesting Letter from Sweden — Present State of the 
Colony — Future Prospects. 

/^vNE of the most interesting events which has ever occurred 



in the State of Maine is what may be called the Scandi- 
navian immigration. For this important movement, the State 
is mainly indebted to the sagacity and energy of Hon. William 
W. Thomas, jun., of Portland. 

Mr. Thomas graduated at Bowdoin College in the year 1860. 
Two years after graduating he was appointed vice-consul at 
Constantinople, and soon after consul at Galatz in the princi- 
pality of Moldavia. His services there were considered so 
important, that the Department of State deemed him worthy of 
a vote of " special thanks." 

In the year 1863 he was appointed consul at Gothenburg, 
in Sweden. He remained there three years; became familiar 
with the language, and acquainted with the manners and 
customs of the people. Upon resigning this important office, 
the State Department again took occasion to express its high 
appreciation of his measures as a public officer. 

In the year 1866 he opened an office, as a lawyer, in Portland ; 
and in 1869 became one of the commissioners in the settlement 
of the public lands of the State. In 18T0, invested with the 
office of Commissioner of Immigration, he sailed for Sweden, 
where he recruited a colony, returned with its members to 




436 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



437 



Maine, and founded New Sweden in our northern forests. He 
then took a seat in the State Legislature, and, in the years 1874 
and 1875, was Speaker of the House. 

Such, in brief, was the origin of this very important move- 
ment, which merits a more minute detail of its progress from 
its commencement to its present success. 

The subject of Swedish immigration had been, for some time, 
a topic of public discussion, when Gov. Washburn called the 
attention of the legislature to it, in his message of 1861. The 
troubles of the times engrossed all the energies and thoughts of 
the people, until Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain was called to the 
gubernatorial chair. He eloquently urged the question upon 
the legislature. It was fully discussed. Three commissioners 
were appointed to report what measures were necessary to in- 
duce settlements in the unpeopled townships. These were 
Hon. Parker P. Burleigh, William W. Thomas, jun., and Hon. 
William Small. The commissioners, having carefully explored 
Aroostook County, reported, in 1870, in favor of making vigor- 
ous efforts to establish a Swedish colony in Maine. It was pro- 
posed that an agent should be sent to Sweden ; that he should 
endeavor to collect twenty-five families, with their pastor, and 
conduct them across the Atlantic, to what was then township 
No. 15, in the 3d range. Here, in a perfectly healthy climate, 
very similar to their own, with fertile soil, abundant timber, 
pure water, and pure air, ample farms were to be assigned them 
without cost. None were to be received but honest and indus- 
trious farmers and laborers with their families, who had suffi- 
cient property to pay the expenses of their passage. 

Mr. Thomas was sent on this important mission. Taking 
passage on the steamship " City of Brooklyn," he landed at 
Gothenburg, Sweden, on the 16th of May, 1870. Here he 
established his office, and spread broadcast over the land circu- 
lars inviting immigration, and truthfully describing the country 
offered them for their future homes. Mr. Thomas also travelled 
extensively, conversing with the people upon the subject, by 
the road-side, in the public vehicles, and at their homes. 
Particular stress was laid upon the fact, that none would be 
accepted but those who could bring the most satisfactory testi- 



438 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



inonials for integrity of character, and for industry and skill in 
their several callings. 

The Swedes are a highly industrious, moral, and Christian 
people. Their religious institutions were essentially like those 
prevailing in Maine. Recruits soon began to appear. Each 
man brought credentials from his pastor. No doubtful case was 
accepted. In this way a colony of picked men, with their wives 
and families, was collected. 

The colonists and their friends met on the 23d of June, in 
the Baptist Hall in Gothenburg, to enjoy a public collation. 
Over two hundred Swedes were present. Addresses were 
made by the commissioner and by Swedish gentlemen. It was 
a momentous occasion, and appropriately closed by prayer. 

At noon of Saturday, June 25, Mr. Thomas, with his 
adventurous and confiding band, sailed from Gothenburg, in 
the steamship " Orlando." The commissioner had been in 
Sweden but forty days. There must have been something 
singularly potent in the influence of Mr. Thomas, to enable him 
to induce these worthy and intelligent men to abandon home 
and country, to cross a stormy ocean of four thousand miles, 
and to hew out for themselves new homes in the wilderness of 
a strange land ; with no contract, and nothing upon which they 
could rely but their faith in the honesty of the commissioner. 
It is indeed refreshing to one who is weary of describing the 
wrong and outrage with which earth is filled, to be able to 
record that Mr. Thomas was true to his trust. 

The colony consisted of twenty-two men, eleven women, and 
eighteen children; fifty-one in all. The noble character of 
these men may be inferred from the fact that they took with 
them their pastor, their sabbath, and their church observances. 
In addition to the farmers and their religious teacher, there was 
a civil engineer, a blacksmith, two carpenters, a basket-maker, 
a wheelwright, a baker, a tailor, and a shoemaker. The women 
were neat, industrious, and expert in the use of the spinning- 
wheel and the loom. It was said of the men, " All are tall and 
stalwart, with blue eyes, light hair, and cheerful, honest faces. 
There is not a physical defect or blemish among them." 1 

1 Commissioners' Report, p. 5. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



439 



The emigrants landed at Halifax on the 13th of July, 
traversed the peninsula, crossed the broad Bay of Fundy, and 
ascended the River St. John. They arrived at Tobique, on the 
St. John, in New Brunswick, on the 21st of July, and the next 
day, Friday, July 22, drove across the border into Maine. At 
Fort Fairfield the American flag was raised to welcome them, 
a salute was fired in honor of their arrival, and they were wel- 
comed by addresses from Judge William Small, and from Rev. 
Daniel Stickney of Presque Isle. There was quite a festivity 
at the Fort on this joyful occasion ; and many settlers from the 
surrounding region had assembled to present the hand of frater- 
nal welcome to the strangers. How beautiful is peace ! 

The Swedes were invited to a sumptuous collation in the 
Town Hall ; and then, with grateful hearts and strengthened 
resolutions, they continued their journey still farther north, to 
find their new homes. As they approached Caribou, five hun- 
dred people met them, and escorted them into the village with 
the salute of cannon and the music of a fine brass band. Here 
again their hearts were cheered by words of welcome from 
John S. Arnold, Esq. ; and their bodies were refreshed with an 
abundant feast, and they were hospitably entertained through 
the night. Mr. Thomas acted as interpreter on these occasions. 

At noon of Saturday, July 23, 1870, the emigrants reached 
their new home, to which they gave the name of New Sweden. 
It is said there is no better township in the State. It is in the 
latitude of the flourishing city of Quebec. The land is undu- 
lating, and covered with a splendid growth of maple, birch, 
beech, and ash. Brooks flow through all the little valleys, and 
the soil is remarkably free from stones. The State, previously 
to the arrival of the strangers, had cut a road through the 
forest to the township ; had felled one hundred and twenty-five 
acres of trees, and had constructed for them six comfortable 
log houses. The long line of heavily loaded wagons wound 
their way along the newly constructed road, with the primeval 
forest, in its gigantic grandeur, rising on either side. The 
colonists, upon their arrival, used one of these houses as a store- 
house, while the fifty men, women, and children, though 
crowded, were comfortably accommodated in the other five. 



440 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



The sabbath dawned happily upon this favored little band. 
Sweetly the melody of their Swedish hymns blended with all 
the voices of nature around them. There was, of course, some 
choice in the farms; but the question was amicably adjusted 
by drawing lots. The settlers were divided into groups of four 
friendly families, and the farms into clusters of four, with the 
cottages to be reared at the contiguous corners. Thus intimate 
friends could form one neighborhood. Mr. Thomas reports : — 

"Every Swede was convinced that just the right lot had fallen to him; 
and was enabled to find something about his possessions which, in his eye, 
made it superior to all others. So surely does ownership beget content- 
ment." 1 

With hands made stronger by joyful hearts, the Swedes went 
to work clearing up their farms. One hundred acres of forest 
were assigned to each. The houses, which had been built for 
them, were very comfortable residences, of peeled logs, eighteen 
feet by twenty -six, on the ground. They were one and a half 
stories high, with seven feet between the floors. There were 
two logs above the second floor beams, which, with a square 
pitch roof, gave ample room for chambers. The ground floor 
was divided into three apartments. There was one front room 
sixteen feet by eighteen one bedroom ten feet square and a 
pantry eight feet by ten. On this floor there were four windows, 
and one window on the front gable end above. 

In the general room of each house there was a Hampden 
cooking-stove, with a funnel running out through an iron plate 
in the roof. These cottages, full of interior comfort, were 
architecturally picturesque ; and the inmates, happy and grate- 
ful, entered upon their labors with great zeal. Within a week 
after their arrival, these our prosperous adopted citizens wrote 
a joint letter to their friends in Sweden, in which they said 
that Maine had kept its faith with them in every particular ; 
that the land was fertile," the climate pleasant, and the inhabit- 
ants friendly. They strongly advised all their countrymen who 
thought of emigrating to America, to come to the congenial 

1 Commissioners' Report to the Legislature, p. 9. "We are indebted to this 
admirable report, which must make every son of Maine proud of his State, for 
nearly all the facts recorded in this chapter. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



441 



climate, the rich soil, and the kindly neighborhood of New 
Sweden, in Maine. 

This letter was widely circulated by the journals in Sweden. 
In the fall the Swedes had made such progress in their clear- 
ings, that every farmer had sown an acre or half an acre with 
wheat or rye. The colony rapidly increased. On the 14th of 
September, twelve additional emigrants arrived ; and on the 31st 
of October twenty more followed, directly from Sweden. There 
were three births and two marriages. The sabbath, the greatest 
blessing God ever gave to man, shed its benignant influence 
upon the happy, religious colony. A sabbath school was 
opened for the children, and divine service was regularly con- 
ducted by their excellent pastor. 

Through the wise forethought of the surveyor of the town- 
ship, Hon. Noah Barker, fifty acres in the centre of the settle- 
ment were reserved for public uses. This land belonged to 
the State. Here the State erected a building thirty feet by 
forty-five, two stories high, with a very capacious cellar, frost- 
proof. A neat tower, surmounted by a vane, rose from the 
front gable end. A store-room and offices were on the lower 
floor. The second story contained a large hall, thirty feet by 
forty-five, which was used for a church, a schoolhouse, and 
public meetings in general. 

The main body of the emigrants had arrived in the midst of 
the heat of summer. The houses were not prepared to bid 
defiance to the blasts of a Maine winter. But cold weather was 
a foe whom the Swedes knew well how to encounter. As the 
autumnal nights grew long, and severe frosts began to set in, 
they all turned their attention to promoting the comforts of 
their own firesides. With split planks, they made their floors 
double, leaving a space of six or eight inches between. This 
space they filled with dry earth, making a floor so tight that 
the fiercest wintry blast could not force through it a single 
breath of air. The upper ceiling was also made perfectly tight 
with matched boards. They hewed the round logs which com- 
posed the walls, within and without, so as to present nearly a 
square surface. The interstices between the logs were filled 
very compactly with dried moss. Over this they nailed, both 
on the outside and the inside, strips of cedar. 



442 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Thus the houses, out of doors and within the rooms, pre- 
sented a finished aspect, smooth and perpendicular. The rooms 
were attractive. Neither clapboards, stone, nor brick could 
present a more perfect defence against the fiercest storms. 
Fuel was abundant. When the little households were gathered 
around these bright, warm firesides, it mattered little to them 
how low the mercury might sink in their thermometers. The 
climate was so healthy, that, in the autumn, it was said that 
there had not been a day's sickness of man, woman, or child in 
New Sweden. 

The houses, with all the improvements, remained the prop- 
erty of the State for five years from the arrival of the colonists. 
If, in the mean time, any one abandoned the place, he left his 
cottage and his land in the hands of the State. If he or his 
heirs retained the cottage as their home for that length of time, 
it became, with the hundred acres, his or theirs in fee simple. 
The expense of transporting the colony from Sweden to Maine 
was four thousand dollars. The immigrants paid every dollar 
of this. They also took with them into New Sweden, three 
thousand dollars in cash and six tons of baggage. This was 
adding just so much to the riches of the State. 

Every Swede who set out with the original company from 
Scandinavia, with the commissioner, adhered to his pledge, and 
settled in New Sweden. Every one who promised soon to 
follow did so. Not one of them sought a home elsewhere. 
And we do not learn that any one of them, at any time, aban- 
doned the enterprise. In December, 1870, but five months 
after the arrival of the colonists, the following results, in an 
official report, were announced : — 

" A colony of one hundred and fourteen Swedes — fifty-eight men, twenty 
women, and thirty-six children — have paid their own passage from Sweden, 
and settled on the wild lands of Maine. Seven miles of road have been cut 
through the forest. One hundred and eighty acres of woods have been 
felled. One hundred acres have been hand-piled, burnt off, and cleared 
ready for a crop, and twenty acres sown to winter wheat and rye. Twenty- 
six dwelling-houses and one public building have been built. 

"A knowledge of Maine, its resources and advantages, has been scat- 
tered broadcast over Sweden ; a portion of the tide of Swedish immigration 
turned upon our State, and a practical beginning made towards settling our 



TEE EI STORY OF MAINE. 



443 



wild lands, and peopling our domain with the most hardy, honest, and 
industrious of immigrants.'* 

It is pleasant to witness the interest with which Sweden, the 
mother country, watched over the welfare of her sons and 
daughters in this distant land. A prominent member of the 
Swedish Parliament, one of the most distinguished of Swedish 
philosophers, wrote to the governor of the State of Maine, 
mourning over the departure of their citizens, and yet rejoicing 
in view of their prosperity. In this letter he said, — 

" Your commissioner, Mr. W. W. Thomas, jun., one evening last summer, 
assembled his little colony of immigrants to partake of a collation, where 
good wishes and kind words were exchanged. We, the remaining friends, 
left with confidence our brethren and sisters in his care : his last and firm 
assurance was, ' All that has been promised will be kept.' 

" Yes, sir, these promises have been kept, but not only that : they have 
been far surpassed by your generosity. The poor immigrants, landing on 
your shores, have been received and greeted with the most friendly wel- 
come. Their homes established, their future secured, they have not been 
disappointed in their hopes by the difficulties and grievances of the real 
state of things. 

" The young colony will probably be the nucleus of an extended coloni- 
zation ; and you will not, sir, I feel sure, find the hardy Swedes ungrateful, 
and unworthy of your kindness : they would then, surely, be unworthy of , 
their origin. 

" The colony of ' New Sweden ' has requested and authorized the writer 
of this letter to convey to you, Honorable Governor of the State of Maine, 
the expression of their sentiments of deep gratitude ; and you will kindly 
allow me, sir, to add thereto the expression of the same sentiments of many 
other Swedes, who have followed the immigrants with their sympathies. 

" Allow me at the same time to express to the people of Maine, who have 
received their new brethren with so much cordiality, the thanks of the colo- 
nists ; who have mentioned more especially two gentlemen, Mr. W. W. 
Thomas, jun., and Mr. P. P. Burleigh, land-agent, as objects of their grati- 
tude and high esteem. 

"May the young colony of 1 New Sweden ' grow and flourish, not only in 
material strength, but even in developing their moral and intellectual 
faculties I And may the new population thus add to your State and to your 
great Republic a good and healthy element of moral power from the Old 
World, and, becoming imbued with the spirit of your free institutions, 
reflect that spirit on their native land 1 

"What we have lost, at present, in the old fatherland, will then not have 
been lost to humanity : on the contrary, the trees have only been trans- 



444 



TIIE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



planted on a fresher soil, where they will thrive better, and give richer and 
more abundant fruits. God bless the harvest ! God bless your land ! 
" I am, sir, with the highest esteem, 

" Your obedient servant, 

" G. A. Hedlund" 

Gov. Chamberlain had taken a deep interest in this en- 
terprise, and had fostered it with truly parental care. The 
State erected, in all, twenty-six houses for the immigrants who 
arrived in the } r ear 1870. Since then the Swedes have erected 
one hundred and four houses in addition. Thus their settle- 
ment, early in 1875, numbered a hundred and thirty houses. 
They have also the same number of barns. Two steam-mills 
and a water-power saw-mill have been put in operation. There 
is a very prosperous store in the centre of the village ; and it is 
generally admitted that the Swedes manufacture the best shaved 
shingles in the county. Their great prosperity may be inferred 
from the fact, that they owned, at the commencement of the 
year 1875, twenty -six horses, five colts, forty-one oxen, a hun- 
dred and twenty-one cows, nine heifers, fifty-one calves, sixty- 
eight sheep, and a hundred and twenty-five swine. They had 
good roads. A post-office was established in their village. 
On the 14th of October last, one hundred and thirty-three men 
came forward to take the preliminary steps toward becoming 
citizens of the land of their adoption. 

The Swedes are Protestants, and eminently a moral and reli- 
gious people. They have a day-school, taught by their pastor. 
There is an average attendance of eighty scholars. The Eng- 
lish language is the chief study. Most of the children Over 
ten years of age can read, write, and speak English respectably 
well. There are now more than one hundred native Americans 
born of these Swedish parents. 

About one thousand Swedes have been led to emigrate to this 
State, who have not taken farms in New Sweden, but who have 
settled in Maine, and are engaged in various useful employ- 
ments. The young girls are highly prized as house-servants ; 
and the men are greatly valued for their industry and their 
integrity. The population of New Sweden now amounts to 
about six hundred. There are not less than sixteen hundred 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



445 



Swedes in the State of Maine. These have all paid their own 
passage, have brought with them one hundred thousand dollars 
in coin ; and it is estimated that their value, as a producing 
force, is worth to the State one million six hundred thousand 
dollars. 

It is now certain that this valuable Swedish immigration will 
continue to flow into Maine. All special State supervision over 
the colony has ceased. The settlement is steadily advancing in 
prosperity. Rapidly the forest is disappearing, and giving place 
to cultivated fields smiling with rich harvests. The Swedes 
have won for themselves a very desirable reputation. Kindly 
feelings arise whenever one is introduced to man or woman as 
coming from Sweden. 

It is believed that this successful enterprise in founding the 
colony of New Sweden will eventually lead a large emigration 
of the population of Scandinavia to our vast northern domain. 
The Northmen, justly called the " sea-kings" of Northern 
Europe, were the first discoverers of the shores of New Eng- 
land, centuries before the eyes of Columbus caught a glimpse of 
the tropical islands of this. New World. The inhabitants of 
Maine will ever present a cordial welcome to all the descend- 
ants of those bold adventurers. 

14 Honor to whom honor is due." The State owes a debt of 
gratitude, which it will be ever happy to acknowledge, to the 
illustrious citizen whose sagacity planned this great enterprise, 
and whose energy and humanity have contributed so much to 
its successful achievement. The Hon. P. P. Burleigh, in a 
report as land-agent of the State, writes, — 

" For this new impulse in the great pioneer work of settlement, the State 
is principally indebted to the skill and untiring efforts of the commissioner 
of emigration, Mr. W. TV. Thomas, jun., who has, on both sides of the 
Atlantic, devoted himself to the cause in a manner worthy the thanks of 
the State. The success which has thus far crowned his efforts is a fitting 
testimony to his faithfulness and ability in the conduct of the enterprise." 



CHAPTER XXV. 



THE PICTURESQUE ATTRACTIONS OF MAINE. 

Portland and Casco Bay r— Seashore Resorts — Isles of Shoals — The Beaches — 
Cape Arundel and Old Orchard — Bath to Rockland, and up the Penobscot — 
Mount Desert — Lake Sebago — Mt. Pleasant and the Saco — The Valley of 
the Androscoggin — Rangeley Lakes and Sandy River — The Kennebec Valley 
— Moosehead Lake and the Aroostook. 

[For the chapter which follows, we are indebted to the pen of Rev. Prof. 
Edward Payson Thwing of Brooklyn, NY. It i3 from personal observation 
tbat he has been able to give so graphic a description of scenery which charms 
every beholder.] 

A party of gentlemen at Venice were discussing the relative 
attractiveness of localities visited by them. It was conceded 
that Italy abounded in magnificent scenery ; but one of them, 
not an American, affirmed that the finest prospects he had ever 
enjoyed were at 

PORTLAND AND CASCO BAY. 

Latrobe, the English traveller, writes, " Imagine our surprise 
and delight when we found, in unsung and neglected Portland, 
scenery that for beauty, variety, and extent, far exceeds any 
views of the class in the States." He adds that the panorama 
on which the eye feasts at the Observatory on Munjoy Hill is 
equalled by nothing in America, except at the citadel of Quebec. 

The Forest City still keeps the bulk of her beautiful trees ; 
and the palatial edifices that have risen from the ashes of the 
fire of 1866 attract admiration, not only as architectural embel- 
lishments, but as evidences of the enterprise of her people. 
The Custom House, Post-Office, City Hall, and Hospital, the 
cathedrals, churches, school edifices, and many of the elegant 
private residences that adorn the slopes of either hill, present 

446 



TEE EI STORY OF MAINE. 



U7 



an imposing appearance to the stranger entering the harbor. 
Nor is the view less picturesque from the bay in the rear of 
Portland, or from the grand promenades of Bramhall's Hill and 
Munjoy, looking seaward, or in the direction of the White 
Mountains. 

The location of the city, its healthfulness, and the beauty of 
its surroundings, with its matchless harbor and bay gemmed 




PORTLAND OBSERVATORY. 



with three hundred and sixty-five islands, and its abundant 
railroad facilities, make its future growth and prosperity certain. 

Two lines of railway have long connected it with Boston; 
but the new extension of the Boston and Maine Railroad along 
the seashore opens a delightful route for the summer tourist, 
while the short line from New York, via Worcester, Nashua, 
and Rochester, reduces time and trouble, besides conducting 



448 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



him through the diversified scenery of Southern New Hamp- 
shire, and so along the valley of the Presumpscot to Portland. 
The excellent facilities for steamboat travel between New York 
or Boston and the Forest City are all that can be desired by 





CITY HALL, PORTLAND. 



those who believe that the summer resorts of Maine are equal 
to those of more pretentious claims. 

In Longfellow's poem, " My Lost Youth," the poet tells in 
verse of the charms of his native place, — 

' ' The beautiful town that is seated by the sea. ' ' 

In the recently published volume " Portland Illustrated," by 
John Neal, the tourist will find every thing necessary to guide 
his steps in the city, or the charming environs. A brief sketch 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



449 



will now be given of the seashore resorts. Drake's " Nooks and 
Corners " is the completest manual for the New England coast, 
and is indispensable to a full outfit. 

SEASHORE RESORTS. 

The Isles of Shoals are eight in number, and part of them 
belong in Maine. The cairn on the summit of Appledore is said 
to have been erected by Capt. John Smith in 1614 ; and tales of 




CUSTOM HOUSE, PORTLAND. 



Capt. Kidd and his treasure, Black Dinah and her divining rod, 
Philip Babb with his ghostly knife, besides more recent trage- 
dies, invest these wild, rocky islets with peculiar interest. The 
distance from main land is but nine miles, and steamboats con- 
nect with the Eastern Railroad at Portsmouth. Pullman cars 
run on all through trains on this road. Invalids to whom a sea- 
voyage has been recommended, especially those suffering from 
haj T -fever, find in the salubrious climate of these islands entire 



450 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



relief, and enjoy the benefits of a sea-voyage without its dis- 
comforts. 

Appledore and Star Islands have each a large and elegant 
hotel, with every facility for bathing, fishing, and sailing. The 
florist and naturalist only need Celia Thaxter's dainty little vol- 
ume to tell them where to find the haunts of the sea-anemones, 
the scarlet pimpernel, the crimson sorrel, the purple pea, and 




POST OFFICE, PORTLAND. 



the varied finny tribes, bonito and blue-fish, the slender porock, 
the thrasher, and porpoise. Her exquisite pictures of scenery, 
and her tragic tales of storm and shipwreck, are full of interest 
f to the tourist. 

Kittery, one of the oldest towns, has many attractions ; among 
them the U. S. Navy Yard, Fort McClary, and the mansion 
and tomb of the Pepperells, the old church and parsonage. 
There is a new hotel at the Point. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



451 



From Kittery, along the shore northward, there are delightful 
views of ocean, mountain, and river. Near the site of the 
ancient city of York, Mount Agamenticus towers ; and but a 
short ride from the cars is York Beach, two miles long and five 
hundred feet wide. The views from " The Pulpit," the topmost 
point of Bald Head Cliff, rising a hundred feet abruptly above 
the sea, from Cape Neddock, " The Nubble," and Boone Island, 
attract many visitors. 

Wells Beach, six miles long, is much frequented, being so near 
the new railroad from Boston, and in the neighborhood of trout- 




THE CLIFFS, CAPE ARUNDEL, ME. 

streams and woods, where the sportsman finds the snipe, the 
curlew, the woodcock, the partridge, and other game. Ample 
private and public accommodations are had for guests. Passing 
northward, and crossing Mousam River, Kennebunk is reached. 
Twenty-five minutes ride in easy coaches brings one to the Port, 
and Cape Arundel, where is one of the finest summer resorts 
on the Atlantic coast. 

Unlike Newport in elaborate beauty or tiresome convention- 
alities, it offers a peculiar charm for those who prefer the 
grander primitive attractions of forest and shore, the beauty of 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



453 



native wildness, and the restful quiet of simpler living, with 
unfettered communion with Nature herself. Unlike almost all 
watering-places, it has neither the hot land-breeze nor the bitter 
east winds direct, but, facing the south-west, a uniform, equable 
and invigorating air, night and day. There are three beaches 
in crescent curves, suited for riding or bathing, bold headlands 
with rifts and chasms, volcanic beds, " The Blowing Cave," — 
a huge watery cannon sending out explosions, — spouting rocks, 
a ruined fort, " Hermit's Retreat," and other localities that 
will be appreciated by the naturalist, the artist, or idler in search 
of healthful repose. Cape Porpoise, the Goose Rocks, and the 
White Mountains fill up a picture of enchanting loveliness 
when evening comes, — 

" With sunset purple, soothing all the waste." 

A number of literary and business men from Boston have en- 
joyed cottage life here the past three years ; but recently the 
name of Cape Arundel has so widely spread, that the veteran 
hotel- keeper of New England has opened a spacious and com- 
fortable hosteliy, in connection with w T hich ample provision is 
made for fishing, riding, bathing, or sailing. 

Keeping along the coast a few miles farther, the cars stop 
at Biddeford and Saco, from either of which cities the " Pool " 
and Wood Island may be reached, — delightful retreats, with 
groves where picnics gather, and quiet nooks that look out over 
the blue Atlantic. There is also a waterfall on Foxwell's 
stream, sixty feet in height, with varied and wild scenery. 

Old Orchard is quite a populous village, which has sprung up 
by magic, as it were, since the new route of travel passes this 
favorite watering-place. A hard, smooth beach extends nine 
miles, and so wide that a dozen or more carriages may drive 
abreast. Several hotels and a score of smaller houses are 
open during the season. Pine Point, Prout's Neck, Blue Point, 
are easily accessible. 

Old Orchard has been a place of summer resort for two hun- 
dred years. The orchard that gave the name, long ago disap- 
peared ; and but three gravestones remain over the dust of the 
ancient colonists that once found there a home. The scenic 



454 



THE II I STORY OF MAINE. 



and historic mingle their charms in this romantic spot. The 
sequestered loveliness of Fern Park, near the site of the Old 
Orchard House, has hardly a parallel in the country. To the 
natural beauty of a hillside forest, are added graceful arbors, 
rustic retreats wrought by cunning art, and embellished with 
quaint conceits ; while the trees along the avenues bear on 
wooden tablets elegant extracts from English and American 
poets. The Oratory, the Astronomer's Seat, the Parson's Lodge, 
and the monument to Mr. Bull the projector, are among the 
most interesting objects. 




OLD ORCHARD BEACH, ME. 



The Methodists have wisely chosen Old Orchard for camp- 
meetings, both local and national. They own about fifty acres 
of land, pleasantly diversified and shaded ; also a fine auditorium 
formed by natural circular slopes, and capable of seating twenty 
thousand people. A large number of permanent cottages have 
been erected, and streets laid out. It bids fair to be a successful 
rival of Martha's Vineyard. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



455 



Short excursions from Portland to the islands of Casco Bay, 
White Head, Cape Elizabeth, Harpswell, and Freeport, will de- 
lightfully employ the leisure of one's summer days. Eastman's 
"Eastern Coast Guide," Mr. Kellogg's "Elm Island Stories," 
and Mrs. Stowe's " Pearl of Orr's Island," will make the trips 
more enjoyable. An excursion by rail through Westbrook, 
Gorham, Alfred, and Rochester to Alton Bay, with sixty miles 




WHITEHEAD CLIFFS. 

sail on Lake Winnepiseogee, can be made, and the tourist?- 
return the same evening to Portland. 

The route to Brunswick and Bath, by the Maine Central Rail- 
road, thence along the line of the Knox and Lincoln Railroad to ' 
Rockland, and the steamboat excursions daily made from Bath* 
to Boothbay, present charming attractions. From Owl's Head' 
up the Penobscot to Bangor, unfolds a panorama of beauty 



456 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



which an eminent Harvard professor declared surpassed the 
storied Rhine. 

Camden is a popular resort, and the drives about the lake and 
mountain are justly admired. Our missionaries from the East 
have remarked that the Syrian hills seemed pictured in the 
western shores of the Penobscot at this point. The view from 
Mount Megunticook, fourteen hundred feet high, is pronounced 
by a well-known author one of " indescribable grandeur." 
The appearance of Belfast from the river is imposing. Passing 
Searsport, Stockton, and Fort Pownal, the stranger is impressed 
with the scenery at Bucksport Narrows, where the Penobscot 
makes a sharp bend, and the high, bold headland is guarded 
by Fort Knox. Its powerful batteries effectually close the river 
to a hostile fleet. Chains, too, have been stretched across the 
Narrows in bygone days, as an additional protection. From 
this point to Bangor there are constant surprises at each turn of 
the winding stream. Frankfort and Winterport and Hampden 
in turn appear. The latter is the home of the late Vice-Presi- 
dent Hamlin. Here the frigate " John Adams " was run ashore 
and burned in 1779. 

Bangor is a beautiful cit}', diversified with valley and hill and 
river. It has handsome streets, with fine drives, particularly on 
the Hampden road and to Mount Hope cemetery. The outlook 
from the seminary tower is a commanding one, as is that from 
the opposite heights beyond the Kenduskeag. The tourist will 
gladly linger here many days. A few hours' excursion brings 
him to Castine, rich in historical interest, beautiful in situation, 
and peopled by families of high culture. It was settled two 
and a half centuries ago ; and many valuable relics remain of the 
significant epochs of its religious and military history. 

Sedgwick and Deer Isle and Isle au Haut present charming 
views, and are well worthy a visit by those who love fine scenery, 
or would grow ruddy on healthful fare and by invigorating air. 
Constant communication is had by steamers with Portland. 

Mount Desert is too well known as a summer resort to need 
description in detail. Stages connect at Bangor, and reach the 
island over Trenton Bridge ; but the stranger ought not to fail of 
going one way, at least, by Portland steamer. He will find 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



457 



it a pleasant trip to stop at South- West Harbor, and cross the 
island leisurely on foot or in the saddle to Bar Harbor ; not 
omitting the ascent of Green Mountain, from which Katahdin 
is seen, one hundred and twenty miles distant as the bird flies, 
while seaward the prospect is enchanting. The writer has 
feasted his eyes on some of the fairest scenes on either side the 
Atlantic, but never saw the equal, in all respects, to this 
" bright mosaic of island and bay," as Clara Barnes Martin has 
felicitously described this landscape. 

In his legend of " Mogg Megone," Whittier tells of the objects 
that meet the gaze of the traveller looking from the summit of 
this mountain. 

" Beneath the westward turning eye 
A thousand wooded islands lie ; 
Their thousand tints of beauty glow 
Down in the restless waves below. 
There sleep Placentia's group ; 
There gloomily against the sky 
The Dark Isles rear their summits high ; 
And Desert Rock, abrupt and bare, 
Lifts its gray turret in the air, 
Seen from afar, like some stronghold 
Built by the ocean kings of old; 
And faint as smoke wreath, white and thin, 
Swells, in the north, vast Katahdin ; 
And, wandering from its marshy feet, 
The broad Penobscot comes to meet 
And mingle with its own bright bay." 

This is but one of the attractions of this island. There are 
thirteen mountains and thirteen lakes, few of them bereft of 
story, all interesting alike to the student of geology, the sports- 
man, the florist, and the artist. Blue-bells, morning-glories, 
white and yellow water-lilies, the twin-flower, the mountain- 
cranberry, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and huckle- 
berries, with other fruits and flowers in their season, abound to 
an extent which leads the delighted visitor to regard the name 
of the island a strange misnomer. The memory of a month at 
Mount Desert, at the noontide of the year, is itself a summer idyl, 
and will combine the elements of choicest interest and most 
enduring pleasure. 



458 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



The views in and about Machias, Eastport, Quoddy Head, 
the dark palisades of Grand Menan, and the Old Friar, a tall 
columnar rock of striking profile, with distant views of the 
Chamcook Hills and the valley of the St. Croix, seen from the 
ramparts of Fort Sullivan, are among the last of the number- 
less picturesque attractions that clothe the seashore of Maine. 
As this coast line measures three thousand miles, followed 
throughout its manifold irregularities, it is obvious that this 
brief monograph can record but a small portion of what could 
be said of this feature of the attractiveness of Maine as a 
summer resort. 

MAINE LAKES AND MOUNTAINS. 

" Two voices are there : one is of the sea, 
One of the mountains ; euch a mighty voice." 

Lake Sebago and the beauties that skirt our " American 
Switzerland " in that neighborhood first demand attention. 
During the season of travel, one can leave Boston in the morn- 
ing, dine in Portland, and reach the summit of Mount Pleasant 
before tea, having enjoyed thirty miles' sail in the midst of 
scenes of incomparable beauty. The visitor who has made 
Portland his summer home can take the mountain and lake 
excursion in a day, and return at evening. The line of the 
Ogdensburg Railroad passes along the suburbs of Stroudwater, 
Deering, and Westbrook, near the birthplace of the lamented 
Gov. Andrew at Windham, up the beautiful Presumpscot, till 
suddenly Lake Sebago bursts in view, — a broad, blue expanse 
of water, fourteen miles long, with the Rattlesnake Range, 
Mount Pleasant, and Mount Washington, in the dim distance. 

Two stanch steamers connect with the trains. An hour is 
consumed in passing over the lake. Indian Island, the " Notch," 
Frye's Island, the Cave, — a favorite haunt of Nathaniel Haw- 
thorne in his boyhood, — and the " Images," a curious mass of 
rocks rising some seventy feet above the lake, are a few of the 
noteworthy objects. But the famous passage of the Songo is 
the great delight. Here you must sail six miles and make 
twenty-seven turns to advance about two miles in a direct line. 
The passage of the Lock, the novelty of the zigzag progress up 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



459 



the narrow river, the sylvan beauty of the overshadowing trees 
and swallow-haunted banks, all make this part of the trip a 
vivid pleasure. Two miles across the Bay of Naples, and you 
reach Chute's River, which opens into Long Lake. Nine miles' 
sail in view of the Harrison Hills, farms, and woodlands, brings 




LAKE SEBAGO. 



the tourist to Bridgeton wharf. A short ride to the village, and 
thence a few miles farther to the base of Mount Pleasant, intro- 
duces him to some of the most attractive views of valley, lake, 
and hillside. The summit is 2,018 feet high, and commands a 
circuit of three hundred miles. Fifty lakes may be seen ; and 
the view of villages, rivers, and mountains is much preferred to 



4G0 



THE II I STORY OF MAINE. 



that of Mount Washington. A new and spacious hotel affords 
every comfort to those who tarry over night to behold the 
sunset and sunrise glories. Coaches to Brownfield accommo- 
date those bound to North Conway and the West by the new 
railroad through the Notch. Between the mountains and 
Lake Sebago are many pleasant villages, where, along the 
banks of the winding Saco, in full view of the White Hills, 
families from the city have made their summer home. Baldwin 




BONNY EAGLE FALLS, BUXTON, HOLLIS AND STANDISII, ME. 



and Cornish and Brownfield are thriving towns ; and the easy 
access to them by the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad has 
now given them a new importance. 

The view from Mt. Cutler and other elevations in Hiram, 
the summer residence of the writer, is admired by artists, em- 
bracing, as it does, the grand amphitheatre of mountains from 
Chocorua to Mount Washington, with Kearsarge in the fore- 
ground, a bold pjTamid 3,367 feet in height. The " Great 



462 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Falls " of the Saco, Ossipee River, Love well's Lake where Pau- 
gus fought, — the wily Pequaket warrior, — and other romantic 
localities, are in this neighborhood. Fryeburg is a popular re- 
treat, and environed with hills, clothed not only with Nature's 
Tyrian drapery, but with traditions of early days, enshrined in 
ballad and in story. Here Daniel Webster taught school, and 
here the well-known James R. Osgood, Esq., of Boston, was born. 

The opening of the Crawford Notch to railway travel is a 
result at which tourists by the Portland and Ogdensburg Road 
may congratulate themselves ; for, says Civil-Engineer B. H. 
Latrobe, " I do not hesitate to say that no railway, on this side 
of the Rocky Mountains at least, can compare with it in the 
magnificence of its mountain scenery." 

The Valley of the Androscoggin next claims notice. From 
Brunswick to the mountains, the river is highly picturesque ; 
and the towns that line its curving banks on the route of the 
Maine Central Railroad are pleasant haunts for summer days. 
The Falls at Lisbon are of striking attractiveness. The scenery 
around Auburn and Lewiston is romantic in the extreme. The 
busy industries of these cities, their tasteful private and public 
edifices, and the beauty of their environs, may well beguile the 
traveller hastening northward. 

Mechanic Falls and Paris are also towns of growing impor- 
tance, and Par?s Hill has few superiors in scenic beauty. 
Thence along the line of the Grand Trunk Railway, Bryant's 
Pond, Bethel, and Gilead attract hundreds by their peculiar 
charms, which Harry Brown, J. B. Hudson, and other Maine 
artists, have transferred to canvas, and authors like Starr King 
to prose. Rumford Falls are pronounced by a recent author 
" the grandest of any in New England." Both the upper and 
lower falls present features of striking grandeur. From Bethel 
to Umbagog Lake is a charming ride. One should visit Megal- 
lowa}^ River be}*ond Umbagog, as well as the Rangeley Lakes, 
still farther in the wilderness around old Saddleback. 

The township of Rangeley is named from a former owner, 
and is situated on the north shore of the Oquossoc Lake. It 
was incorporated in 1855. The primitive wildness of the 
region, the trout-streams and hunting-grounds, attracted the 



464 



TIIE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



attention of Jay Cooke and other gentlemen from Philadelphia 
and New York. In 1869 they rented land, and built a large 
establishment at Indian Rock, three miles from the nearest 
settler. They have been known as the " Oquossoc Angling 
Association." 

Rangeley Lake is ten miles long, and Greenvale Plantation is 
at its head. F. A. Morrill of New Sharon has published views 




LOWER FALLS, BUMFORD, ME. 



of this interesting district as the eleventh series of his "His- 
torical Views of Maine." 

The towns that lie in the luxuriant valley of the Sandy 
River are places of Arcadian beaut}^. Who needs to be told of 
Farmington and u Old Blue," or of " Little Blue," where the 
Rollo Books were penned, or of the institutions of learning that 
have given a literary celebrity to a town so favored in natural 



466 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



attractions? Weld, — the earl}' home of the publishers, nestling 
among the mountains and beautified by Webb's Pond, five 
miles long, — Phillips, and Mount Abraham are much visited in 
summer months. Wilton, Jay, Livermore, Monmouth, and 
Winthrop can boast of natural advantages as summer resorts 
in the midst of a lake district of no common loveliness. The 




CASCADE AT WEST WATERVILLE, ME. 



establishment of seminaries, as the Female College at Kent's 
Hill, and the State schools at Hallowell, have helped to make 
known the conspicuous charms of natural scenery enjoyed by 
the central population of Maine. 

TJie Kennebec Valley, from Merrymeeting Bay to Moosehead 
Lake, is a favorite route, and with the excellent facilities for 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



467 



travel is every year becoming more popular. Richmond is a 
camp-meeting resort. Gardiner, Hallowell, and Augusta, built 
on the high slopes along the river, present a striking appear- 
ance. The public buildings at the capital, and drives to Togus, 
the quarries and other suburbs, well repay the visitor for the 
time required. Vassalboro', Winslow, and Norridgewock add 
historical interest to their natural attractions. Waterville is 
the seat of a flourishing university. The cascade on the Ken- 
nebec at West Waterville, where the craggy ledges of granite 
intercept the rush of the stream, is very striking. Ascending 
the river, the stranger is reminded, as on the Penobscot, of the 
immense importance to Maine of her lumber interests. The 
frequent ice-houses also suggest the rise of that branch of 
industry. At Skowhegan the river makes a bend westward ; 
and the views from this pleasant town are noteworthy. Few 
places in Maine have shown more enterprise than Dexter, in 
developing its water-powers, which, as elsewhere in the State, 
constitute the chief source of wealth. 

Of 31oosehead Lake, with its broad, sparkling waters and 
emerald isles, Mt. Kineo, Chesuncook, and the numberless lakes 
that surround the grand, solitary Katahdin, it is only needful 
to say that Lowell's Moosehead Journal in his " Fireside 
Travel," Flagg's " Woods and By-ways," and particularly 
" Life in the Open Air " by Winthrop, will fully delineate the 
charms of these solitudes, and prove most convincingly the 
claim for superiority in this regard, which the Pine-tree State 
has a right to make. 

Then there is the vast Aroostook, stretching from the Matta- 
wamkeag to the St. Francis, one hundred fifty miles, with its 
marvellous but undeveloped resources, its primitive forest 
grandeur and isolation ; as noble a domain as the Adirondack 
region, and deserving as hearty laudation, alike on the score of 
its picturesque scenery, its balsamic air, and its abounding 
attractions for artist, or angler, or sportsman ; in short, for all 
who, wearied by care, study, or the clamorous demands of 
fashionable follies, seek a restful and joyful life in the open air. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



MAINE IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. 



Military Condition of Maine — Proclamation of the President — Prompt Action 
— The Greeting in New York — Welcome in Washington — Stove-Pipe Artil- 
lery — Testimony of Gen. Sickles — Gen. Hiram G. Berry — The Liquor 
Shops — The Seventh Maine complimented — Sufferings of Camp-Life — 
Colored Regiments — Testimony of Gen. Naglee — Gen. Dow — Toils of a 
Campaign — The Sharp-shooters — Lieut. Hill — Batteries of Light Artil- 
lery — Courage of New Recruits. 

npHERE is perhaps no one of the loyal States which can claim 



-■- pre-eminence over the others in its conduct during the 
civil war. All did the best they could, and all did nobly. Maine 
certainly was not in the rear of any of her sisters in this respect. 
The patriotic spirit of her whole population was roused to the 
utmost when the first gun of foul rebellion was fired upon our 
national flag at Fort Sumter. Israel Washburn, jun., was then 
in the gubernatorial chair; and it could not have been more 
worthily filled. In many towns, in less than twenty-four hours 
after the tidings of the revolt were received, full companies of 
volunteers were formed, ready to march. The first company 
which filled its ranks, and was accepted by the governor, was 
the Lewiston Light Infantry. In Cherry field, four hours after 
the enlistment roll was opened, fifty volunteers had entered 

1 I write this narrative of Maine in the Rebellion with more solicitude than any 
other chapter in the hook. Material, sufficient to fill the whole of such a volume 
as this, must be crowded into a few pages. I can give but the briefest abstract of 
the heroic deeds of the Maine regiments. There were many chivalric exploits 
which I cannot record. There are many names, worthy of most honorable men- 
tion, for which I have no space. My object, in these few pages, is but to give a 
general idea of the wonderful efforts and sacrifices which Maine made to crush 
the Rebellion. For more minute information upon this interesting theme, the 
reader must be referred to the excellent history of " Maine in the War," by 
Messrs. William E. S. Whitman, and Charles H. True. 




468 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



469 



their names. A wealthy gentleman of Thomaston, Mr. Henry 
B. Humphrey, offered to arm and equip a company of artillery 
at an expense of fifteen thousand dollars. 

A long service of peace had rendered military organizations 
unnecessary. The industrious citizens of Maine had not been 
called upon to waste their precious days in drilling with the 
musket, but had consecrated all their energies to the useful 
labors and arts of life. With peace there was abounding pros- 
perity. There was an enrolled militia of about sixty thousand 
men. These were, however, unarmed and unorganized. There 
were but about twelve hundred men in any condition to respond 
to a call of military duty. 

When the President of the United States issued his first call 
for seventy-five thousand volunteers, on the 15th of April, 1861, 
Maine with great promptness sent her First and Second Regi- 
ments of infantry, so thoroughly armed and equipped as to elicit 
from Mr. Cameron, Secretary of War, the warmest commenda- 
tion. Nathaniel J. Jackson was colonel of the First Regiment, 
and Charles G. Jameson of Bangor of the Second. When 
these regiments reached New York, on their way to the front, 
the Rev. Roswell D. Hitchcock, a son of Maine, with his char- 
acteristic eloquence thus addressed them : — 

" Welcome, sons of Maine ! welcome, brothers ! I am one of you, was 
baptized at the same altar ; am bone of the same bone, flesh of the same 
flesh. We were all born beneath the same sky. I love the State from the 
Aroostook to the Atlantic, and I love her granite hills. But, my brethren, 
our first allegiance should not be to her: we love our whole country. 

" The American flag waves triumphantly from the Lakes to the Pacific. 
See to it that it remains there. That flag we follow. It is no ribbon; but 
that banner God has woven with thirteen stripes and four and thirty stars. 
It behooves you, as soldiers marching under that flag, to watch and cherish 
it, and allow no rebellious horde to efface one of its bright orbs, or permit 
one to be ruthlessly torn from its field." 

The Second Regiment left Bangor with a beautiful set of 
colors, presented by the ladies. They marched through Balti- 
more with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets. Not a minion 
of rebellion ventured to open his voice, or peep. At Washing- 
ton it was presented with a magnificent banner, sent by the 



470 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Maine ladie sin California, to be given to the first regiment 
from their native State which should enter the capital for its 
defence. 

It would require a volume to record the achievements of this 
regiment. In the course of two years, it was in eleven hard- 
fought battles, besides numerous skirmishes. In all it behaved 
with gallantry which could not have been surpassed. 

The Third Regiment, under Oliver Otis Howard of Leeds, 
was rendezvoused on the State House grounds at Augusta. It 
was composed mainl} 7 of Kennebec lumbermen, and was exceed- 
ingly fortunate in having for its colonel a West Point graduate ; 
who rapidly rose to the rank of major-general, and who, for 
his signal services, has won a position in the hearts of the 
American people second perhaps to that of none other. It was 
with this regiment that the operations of what were called the 
Stove-Pipe Artillery commenced. The regiment was encamped 
in Virginia, within sight of the lines of the enemy. Some of 
the men went into a meeting-house, took a piece of stove-pipe, 
which they mounted upon wheels, and ran it up to the top of a 
hill. They were abundantly repaid in seeing the enemy open 
upon the harmless gun a furious cannonade. This regiment 
performed prodigies of valor, which we have no space here to 
record. Upon one occasion, when the regiment was reduced to 
one hundred and ninety-six rifles and fourteen officers, Gen. 
Sickles said, " The little Third Maine saved the army to-day." 

Upon the promotion of Col. Howard to the rank of brigadier- 
general, Major Henry G. Staples became colonel. He was suc- 
ceeded by Adjutant Edwin Burt, in the ever memo v able seven- 
days' battle which attended the movement from the Chicka- 
hominy to the James. In this change of front, Major F. W. 
Haskell of Waterville so greatly distinguished himself as to 
win very high commendation. The vicissitudes of war placed 
Moses B. Lakeman in command of the regiment. A better 
colonel the regiment could not have had. 

The Fourth Regiment was under the command of Hiram G. 
Berry of Rockland. His name will ever remain embalmed in 
the hearts of his fellow-citizens. At Bull Run he displayed 
such skill and valor as induced Gen. Kearney to write to Gov. 
Washburn, — 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



471 



" Col. Berry manifested such a genius for war, and such a 
pertinacity in the fight, as proved him fit for high command." 
This regiment was in all the important battles of the army of 
the Potomac, during its term of service. At Williamsburg it 
was said that the regiment of Col. Berry saved the clay ; at 
Fair Oaks, White Oak Swamp, Gaines' Mills, Glendale, and 
Malvern Hill, this regiment rendered magnificent service. At 
the terrible battle of Chancellorsville, Hiram G. Berry, having 
attained the rank of major-general of volunteers, laid down his 
life. The nation mourned his loss. 

The Fifth Regiment was commanded by Mark H. Dunnell 
of Portland. It is painful to be unable to do justice to the 
achievements of these troops. The Fifth was engaged in eleven 
pitched battles, and eight skirmishes, ere it entered upon the 
terrible campaign of the Wilderness, which was an incessant 
battle. It captured six rebel flags, and more prisoners than it 
ever had men in its ranks. 

The Sixth Regiment, commanded by Abner Knowles of Ban- 
gor, was composed chiefly of the hardy lumbermen of the Pe- 
nobscot Valley. Col. Knowles was the right man in the right 
place. Passing through Philadelphia, the regiment made a halt 
near some liquor-shops. The colonel requested the proprietors 
not to sell to the men of his regiment. The rumsellers disre- 
garded his request. He sent a file of soldiers, shut up the 
shops, and placed the proprietors under guard. Several of the 
dignified Quakers of Philadelphia were looking on: they said, 
" Friend Knowles, thy conduct meets our approval. We will 
back thee up if necessary." 

Col. Knowles was succeeded by Col. Hiram Burnham. This 
regiment was in ten pitched battles and in very many skirmishes. 
It lost in battle, and by sickness, the result of military exposure 
and fatigue,' about three hundred men. Col. Burnham, pro- 
moted to a brigadier-generalship, fell at the head of his brigade, 
at the battle of Chapin's Bluff. The reader is referred to 
44 Maine in the War " for the minor changes which took place in 
the command of these regiments. I can only give a brief sketch 
of the general movements, and must omit all the minor details. 

The Seventh Regiment was rendezvoused at Augusta, and 



472 



TIIE BISTORT OF MAINE. 



entered into active service with Edwin D. Mason as its colonel. 
At the close of the sanguinary battle which placed Williams- 
burg and Yorktown in our hands, Gen. McClellan with his staff 
paid the Seventh Maine a visit, and, with his hat in his hand, 
addressed to them the following complimentary words : — 

"Soldiers of the Seventh Maine, I have come to thank you for your 
bravery and good conduct in the action of yesterday. On this battle-plain 
you and your comrades arrested the progress of the advancing enemy, saved 
the army from a disgraceful defeat, and turned the tide of victory in our 
favor. You have deserved well of your country and of your State; and in 
their gratitude they will not forget to bestow upon you the thanks and 
praise so justly your due. Continue to show the conduct of yesterday, and 
the triumph of our cause will be speedy and sure. In recognition of your 
merit, you shall hereafter bear the inscription 1 Williamsburg ' on your 
colors. Soldiers, my words are feeble, but from the bottom of my heart I 
thank you." 

A long series of brilliant achievements followed, which we 
have not space to record. 

The Eighth Regiment was rendezvoused at Augusta. Lee 
Strickland of Livermore was colonel. The physique of these 
men was said to be remarkably fine. Mr. Strickland, like many 
others, had made great sacrifice of prosperous business and a 
happy home to rescue his country from foulest rebellion. The 
first signal exploit of this regiment was aiding in capturing the 
fort at Hilton Head, in South Carolina. This was one of the 
most brilliant exploits of the war. Ill health compelled Col. 
Strickland to resign, and he was succeeded by John D. Rust. 
The least of the sufferings of war are those which are encoun- 
tered on the field of battle. It was deemed important to plant 
batteries on two muddy islands in the river, which were twice 
each day covered by the rising tide. 

With great toil and suffering the heroic men of the Eighth 
engaged in these labors. One cold night in February three 
men of the Eighth, Samuel Holt, Lindsey O. Goff, and Morris 
Woodbury, were posted on picket on one of these islands. It 
would seem that there must have been some great indiscretion 
in the order. But, in military affairs, commands must be 
obeyed, discreet or indiscreet. In the chill night the tide slowly 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



473 



rolled to their breasts, and as slowly ebbed away. In the morn- 
ing they returned to camp utterly exhausted. Holt and Goff 
both soon died from the effects of the cruel exposure. 1 Wood- 
bury survived, but with a ruined constitution. The regiment 
suffered severely from toil, and exposure to an unhealthy clime. 
At one time three hundred men were in hospital. 

Until this time, the government had not seen fit to employ 
colored men as soldiers. So great was the opposition to this 
measure, that many officers of white regiments refused to hold 
any intercourse with officers who took command in colored regi- 
ments. Both the officers and the men of the Eighth Regiment, 
rising superior to this ridiculous prejudice, warmly advocated 
the organization of colored troops. Gen. Saxton selected 
from that regiment nearly half the line officers for the First 
Regiment of colored soldiers. Grateful to the regiment for its 
support in the trying hours when most of his brother officers 
refused even to recognize him in the streets, though he was a 
regular army officer, a courteous gentleman, and a devout 
Christian, he selected still a large number from the Eighth 
Maine, for the Second Colored Regiment. But the tide had 
now so turned that more than a thousand officers and men ap- 
plied for such positions. The career of this regiment was full 
of remarkable incident and heroic enterprise ; for a more detailed 
account of which we must refer our readers to the excellent 
history of 44 Maine in the War," to which we have before re- 
ferred. During a period of but six months, this regiment Avas 
in thirteen general engagements, besides many skirmishes. 

The Ninth Regiment was rendezvoused at Augusta. Rish- 
worth Rich of Portland was colonel. Their passage in a 
rickety steamer, and encountering a terrific storm, from Fortress 
Monroe to Port Royal, was more dreadful, in peril and in suf- 
fering, than can be described. In this fearful gale, at midnight, 
the captain of the ship informed Col. Rich that he did not think 
it possible that the vessel could be kept afloat much longer, and 
that they all must go to the bottom before morning. Almost 
miraculously they were saved. The regiment was vigorously 

i Maine in the War. By William E. S. Whitman, and Charles K. True. P. 199. 



474 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



employed in campaigning and successful fighting, until Col. 
Rich, broken down by toil and exposure, was compelled to re- 
sign his commission. He was succeeded by Sabine Emory. 
At Morris Island, the colonel and his regiment acquired much 
renown, performing feats of valor which none but the bravest 
men could perform. It is admitted that the capture of the 
island was greatly owing to the intrepidity and wise tactics of 
the Maine Ninth. A number of flags were taken. Gen. Q. A. 
Gilmore sent them to Gov. Abner Coburn, with the following 
statement : — 

" I have the honor to forward the rebel flags captured by the soldiers of 
the Ninth Regiment of Maine Volunteers. The names of the captors are 
Moses Goodwin and David C. Hoyt. The former has since died of his 
wounds. It will be, I am sure, a source of gratification and pride to your- 
self and the citizens of your State, to receive these trophies of the gallantry 
of her sons, who are struggling in this distant field for the vindication of 
our cause." 

The Tenth Regiment was organized with George L. Beal of 
Norway colonel. This regiment was exposed to hard duty, 
which it cheerfully performed, and to heavy losses, which it 
endured without a murmur. At times they slept in the cold 
and sleet and rain of a November night, with no covering but 
that of the dripping clouds. One of the companies marched 
fifty-seven miles in twenty -four consecutive hours. The regi- 
ment performed signal service in the valley of the Shenandoah. 
At times the men were under the command of Lieut.-Col. 
James S. Fillebrown, who very ably discharged his weighty 
responsibilities. Col. Beal won the gratitude of every man in 
his regiment by his devotion to their comfort, in scenes of hun- 
ger and cold and fatigue, and when the bullets and shells of the 
rebels were thinning their ranks. Both Col. Beal and Lieut.- 
Col. Fillebrown were presented by the men of the regiment 
with veiy handsome testimonials of their regard. Their ex- 
cellent chaplain also, George Knox of Brunswick, received a 
superb gold watch and chain. 

When the regiment was mustered out of service it contained 
four hundred and fifty men. In the casualties of war, two 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



475 



hundred and fifty-eight had disappeared. The State recognized 
its services, and regarded its heroism as one of the richest lega- 
cies of Maine. 

The ten regiments to which we have alluded were raised 
exclusively by the State. The Eleventh was at the expense of 
the general government. John C. Caldwell of East Machias 
was colonel. It was a splendid regiment, and received in 
Washington much commendation for the excellence of its drill. 
Very speedily it was led into action, and that of the hottest 
kind. The troops displayed the intrepidity and firmness of 
veterans. There is scarcely any thing in the history of war 
more sublime than many of the scenes through which this regi- 
ment passed. In the terrible series of battles which accom- 
panied what was called a " Change of Base," the Eleventh was 
almost incessantly engaged. The Eleventh was a portion of 
the brigade of Gen. Naglee. In taking leave of this brigade, 
the general left the following testimonj^ to its heroism : — 

" Yours is the honor of having been the first to pass, and the last to leave, 
the Chickahominy. And, while you led the advance from this memorable 
place near Richmond, you were the last in the retreating column, when, 
after seven days' constant fighting, it reached a place of security and rest 
at Harrison's Landing." 

The Twelfth Regiment was raised by the general government, 
with George F. Shepley as colonel. These men were sent from 
Boston by water, far away to Ship Island, near the mouth of 
the Mississippi. Col. Shepley was one of the ablest and most 
eloquent lawyers in Maine. Upon the capture of New Orleans, 
the troops ascended the river to that city. Col. Shepley, pro- 
moted to a brigadier-generalship, was placed in military com- 
mand. There could not have been a more judicious selection 
for this important post. 

Col. William K. Kimball of Paris, Me., took command of the 
regiment. Aided by a gunboat, he soon captured two batteries 
of six thirty-two pounders, with a stand of colors, a large 
amount of ordnance stores, and eight thousand dollars of Con- 
federate currency. The War Department highly commended 
the brilliant achievement, and ordered the captured colors to re- 



476 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



main with the Twelfth, as a trophy of their victory. After 
many wild and wondrous expeditions in the extreme South, the 
regiment returned to the battle-fields of Virginia. There the 
troops were engaged in an almost incessant conflict ; and nearly 
every conflict was a victoiy. The regiment bears a remarkable 
record for the good conduct of the men. The} r were ever obe- 
dient to their officers, eager for action, and displayed an invin- 
cible courage which won for them high commendation from 
every general under whom they served. Gen. Shepley remained 
militar}^ commandant at New Orleans until 1862, when he was 
invested with the arduous and responsible office of military 
governor of Louisiana. This post he filled to the great satis- 
faction of the national government until 18G4, when he was 
transferred to fill a similar post in Virginia. 1 

The Thirteenth Regiment was raised at large, and rendez- 
voused in Augusta. Neal Dow of Portland was colonel. 
Upon its organization it was speedily sent to Ship Island. The 
iron ship " Mississippi," of twelve hundred tons, with its rich 
freight of the Thirteenth Maine and the Thirty-first Massachu- 
setts, almost miraculously escaped foundering during a terrific 
storm at sea. The Thirteenth was stationed for some time in the 
occupancy of Ship Island. On this glowing expanse of white 
sand, beneath an almost tropical sun, the regiment, passing in 
mid-winter from the North, suffered in health very severely. 
Their drill was excellent. Gen. Weitzel said that he had never 
seen better soldiers. 

They were eventually sent on a campaign into Texas, and 
again upon an eventful expedition to Red River. In both of 
these enterprises, their deprivations and sufferings were terrible. 
It would require a volume to give any thing like an adequate 
description of these bold adventures. On one of these expedi- 
tions the} r performed a march of five hundred and fifty miles, 
while continually exposed to attack from a watchful foe. 

At length these veteran troops were ordered North, to report 
to Gen. Grant. Martinsburg, the base of supplies for Sheridan's 
whole army, was intrusted to their care. The regiment, after 



i " Maine in the War," p. 299. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



477 



performing services of the utmost value for three years, was 
mustered out of service on the 6th of Januaiy, 1865, by 
Major J. W. T. Gardiner, of the United States Army. Col. 
Dow was very highly commended for the wisdom and energy 
with which he conducted this regiment through its arduous 
career. Promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, he proved 
himself equal to any responsibilities which might be laid 
upon him. While sick in Louisiana, he was captured by the 
rebels. After a long and barbarous imprisonment he was ex- 
changed. 

The Fourteenth Regiment was collected at Augusta. Frank 
S. Nickerson of Searsport was colonel. The regiment was 
assigned to the third brigade, under Gen. Shepley, and was 
sent to Ship Island, and thence to New Orleans. Their first 
serious battle was at Baton Rouge. These sturdy sons of 
Maine, who, at the summons of their country, had left the con- 
genial employments of peaceful homes, behaved like veterans, 
amidst the carnage and tumult of war. Gen. Weitzel wrote in 
the highest terms of commendation of the valor of the Maine 
Fourteenth in encountering " the whole brunt of the attack." 

There seems to have been but little rest for this regiment, by 
day or by night. Marchings and battles were incessant. From 
May till August they were without tents. However severe 
the storm or the shower, they had no shelter. Their only 
camp-equipage was their camp-kettles, which they carried in 
their hands. It seems strange that men could endure such 
hardships, and live. There were no troops who served more 
efficiently in the capture of Port Hudson than the Maine Four- 
teenth. 

The Fifteenth Regiment was raised principally in the remote 
region of Aroostook County. John McClusky of Houlton was 
colonel. For nearly four months the regiment was encamped 
at Carrolton, when Lieut.-Col. Dyer was promoted to the com- 
mand. But here, amidst the swamps of Mississippi, the regi- 
ment suffered severely from sickness. In September it was re- 
moved to Pensacola, where, in the enjoyment of a salubrious 
clime, the sick rapidly recovered. Col. Dyer was soon placed 
in command of the post, and Benjamin B. Murray became 
colonel. 



478 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Upon leaving Maine the regiment numbered nine hundred 
and sixty men. In one year, without being in a single battle, 
it lost, from sickness and the other casualties of a campaign, 
three hundred and twenty-nine of its number. Though these 
troops were not engaged in any pitched battles, they passed 
through a strange series of perilous and romantic adventures, 
in all which they proved themselves to be good men and true. 

In September, 1861, the secretary of war solicited from 
the governor of Maine a rifle company of sharpshooters. 
Every man was subject to a rigid examination as to his physical 
powers of endurance ; and they were required, at the distance 
of two hundred yards, to put ten consecutive shots within a 
circle ten inches in diameter. 

James D. Fessenden of Portland was captain of this com- 
pany. The men were equipped in a superior manner. The 
company was attached to Berdan's Second Regiment of sharp- 
shooters. It was sent, by the way of Washington, first to 
Camp William near Alexandria, and thence to Falmouth, Va. 
Almost immediately the company entered upon a series of 
skirmishes, with the foe ever retiring before them. None 
but men of iron nerves could have performed the toilsome 
marches and the shelterless bivouacs through which they 
passed. They were often exposed to a terrific fire from the 
enemy's batteries, but ever stood their ground with the firmness 
of veterans. At one time this company was pitted against an 
equal number of rebel sharpshooters. The rebels, having lost 
thirty of their number, fled, while the Maine riflemen lost but 
three. 

In one engagement this heroic band of men was so utterly 
exhausted by marching, counter-marching, and fighting, with 
short rations and but little sleep, that but twelve could enter 
into battle. In the battle of Antietam they bore an honorable 
part. For four hours they were under fire, and lost six of their 
men. At ChanCellorsville they were for two days constantly 
engaged with the sharpshooters of the foe. In the three-days' 
battle at Gettysburg, they took an active part, losing eleven in 
wounded and prisoners. And thus these heroic men, through 
sufferings, toil, and death, counted not their lives dear to them, 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



479 



that they might preserve the flag which treason and rebellion 
would trample in the dust. Capt. Fessenden rose, by rapid 
promotion, to the rank of brigadier-general. 

The First Maine Regiment of cavalry was raised at large. 
It consisted of twelve companies. John Goddard of Cape 
Elizabeth was its colonel. It is said that there was no cavalry 
regiment in the service superior to this in the character of its 
men and its horses. Samuel H. Allen took the command as 
colonel, when the regiment was thoroughly organized. Imme- 
diately upon their arrival in Washington the various companies 
were detached for separate service. It is impossible, in the 
brief space which can be allotted to the subject here, to narrate 
the wonderful and often awful adventures through which these 
companies hewed their way. One incident I cannot refrain 
from recording. 

Lieut. Hill, who was acting as quartermaster of the battal- 
ion, was, with his team, taken captive. Under a rebel guard 
he was being carried away, seated in a wagon. Carefully 
searching, he found a loaded revolver. With this he shot his 
guard, recaptured his own team and some others, and drove 
back to the Union lines. 1 

The severity of the service to which the men of this regi- 
ment were exposed may be inferred from the fact, that, during 
a period of about six months, seven hundred of their horses 
were either lost in action or worn out. The record of the 
gallantry of these men, and of their suffering from cold, hun- 
ger, fatigue, wounds, and death, is melancholy in the extreme. 
And, the more we admire their heroism, the more do we deplore 
the awful war which infamous rebellion forced upon them, drag- 
ging them from all the joys of their happy homes, to woes 
which no pen can describe, and which no imagination can con- 
ceive. 

In the autumn of 1861, the State of Maine raised six batter- 
ies of mounted light artillery. Each battery was an independ- 
ant organization. We can but briefly refer to their patriotic 
devotion to the salvation of their country through fields of 



1 Maine iu the War, p. 354. 



480 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



blood. Of the First Battery, Edward W. Thompson of Bruns- 
wick was captain. It was despatched at once to Ship Island, 
and thence to New Orleans. With one hundred and fort}* -nine 
men, the battery was stationed about six miles from the city. 
It was a very sickly region. In one month seventy men either 
died or were disabled. Having been attached to Gen. Weit- 
zel's corps, they were transported to Donaldsonville, where, 
with great gallantry, they captured a twelve-pounder from the 
rebels, which the battery was allowed to retain. They had, 
however, already lost so many men that a detachment of 
infantry was assigned to them. 

Col. Thompson's health utterly failed him. He resigned his 
post, and was succeeded by Albert W. Bradford of Eastport. 
Skirmishes and battles, wounds, woe, and death, rapidly fol- 
lowed. At Port Hudson the battery was hotly engaged. After 
the fall of Port Hudson, the battery was moved in transports 
to Donaldsonville. Here again the troops passed through an 
awful scene of battle and blood. Almost every day now had 
its record of fatiguing marches and sanguinary conflicts. Re- 
turning to the North, the men re-enlisted, and fought in Virginia 
more battles than can well be counted. 

The Second Maine Mounted Battery had Davis Tillson of 
Rockland for captain. He was a West Point graduate, and 
had been adjutant-general of Maine. The troops repaired to 
Washington, and went into camp on Capitol Hill. Soon, how- 
ever, the battery was sent to Manassas, and entered upon a 
series of constant, deadly battles, with almost invariably victo- 
rious results. But in war heavy blows must be received, as well 
as given. Horses were shot, guns dismounted, men wounded 
and killed ; but still the bleeding and exhausted battery held 
on its way until the victory was won. Capt. Tillson was soon 
promoted, and was succeeded in the command by Capt. James 
A. Hall of Damariscotta, who was followed by Lieut. Ulmer, 
and he was followed by Lieut. Albert F. Thomas. 

The Third Mounted Battery was rendezvoused in Augusta, 
under James G. Swett of Brewer as captain. After spending 
a little time at Capitol Hill, it was embarked for Alexan- 
dria, Ya., to guard the rubber pontoons. Passing through 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



481 



various changes, it became at length attached to the First Maine 
Heavy Artillery, and was stationed for the defence of Wash- 
ington. The reader would weary of a minute recital of the 
skirmishes and battles in which it engaged, of the losses which 
it encountered, and of the victories which it won. 

But nothing can give one a more impressive idea of the terri- 
ble energies of this rebellion, than to reflect that the wonderful 
efforts which Maine put forth were rivalled by every loyal 
State in the Union. Dreadful was the war which we waged 
with England for the establishment of our nationality ; but in- 
finitely more terrible was the war in which we engaged with 
foul rebellion, that the nationality which had cost us so dear 
might be perpetuated. For a long time the battery was almost 
daily contending with the batteries of the enemy. When the 
battery was withdrawn from the lines before Petersburg, the 
chief of artillery commended in high terms the military disci- 
pline, the neatness, order, and efficiency, with which all its 
duties had been performed. 

The Fourth Mounted Battery was commanded by O'Neil W. 
Robinson of Bethel. Capt. Robinson was a graduate of Bow- 
doin College, and a lawyer by profession. The battery was 
first stationed at Fort Ramsey, seven miles from Alexandria, in 
Virginia. The history of this battery was essentially like that 
of the others. Its theatre of action was Virginia ; and it had 
scarcely any respite from fatiguing marches and deadly bom- 
bardments. But few of those who originally enlisted returned 
to their homes to enjoy the fruits of the victories they had won. 

These young men, from the comfortable homes and peaceful 
industries of Maine, had but just entered the valley of the 
Shenandoah, when they were placed under the cross-fire of two 
rebel batteries in the battle of Cedar Run. In that awful scene 
of thunder roar and shrieking shells, as the ground was ploughed 
by cannon-balls, as horses were shot, guns dismounted, and the 
dying and dead were falling around, the noble young men, 
the pride of their friends and the hope of the State, maintained 
their position with invincible courage. Not a man flinched 
from his post. There were several changes in the command, 
from promotions and the other vicissitudes of a campaign. 

31 



482 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



The Fifth Mounted Battery was raised at large. George F. 
Leppien of Portland was intrusted with the command. He 
was admirably qualified for the responsible duty ; for he had 
been educated in the best German universities, had spent five 
years in a military school in Prussia, and had already held a 
lieutenant's commission in a Pennsylvania battery. These 
men were very promptly led forward to the front, where the 
battles Avere raging in the valley of the Shenandoah. At the 
battle of Fredericksburg, this battery was exposed to the 
heaviest cannonade of the day ; and the men won golden opin- 
ions for their unflinching courage, their accuracy of aim, and 
their rapidity of fire. At the inexplicable disaster at Chancel- 
lorsville, the battery was exposed to a terribly destructive fire 
from three rebel batteries. There they stood effectively work- 
ing their guns, and holding a large body of infantry in check, 
until Capt. Leppien was struck down by a mortal wound ; both 
of the lieutenants, Greenlief T. Stevens of Augusta, and Adel- 
bert B. Twitchell of Bethel, were severely wounded ; six men 
were killed outright, twenty-two were wounded and prostrate 
in their blood, forty horses were either killed or disabled, and 
their ammunition was exhausted. Then, by the aid of infantry 
supports, the guns were dragged off. It is hard to forgive those 
rebels, who, without the slightest justifiable cause, plunged our 
country into so deadly a war, sending lamentation and mourn- 
ing to thousands of once happy homes. 

Again at Gettysburg this heroic battery met with appalling 
losses and sufferings, and performed deeds of daring which won 
for them great admiration. For the second time the battery 
was left with but one officer not wounded. Capt. Hunt, who 
had succeeded Capt. Leppien, wus severely wounded on the 
first of this three-days' battle. And thus the dreadful days 
came and went with slaughter, wounds, anguish, death. We 
hope there is somewhere reward for those noble men who thus 
suffered and died for us. Had they failed, who can imagine 
the disasters without end which would have befallen our dis- 
membered land ? 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



MAINE IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION, CONTINUED. 

Battle of Cedar Mountain — Bivouacking in the Rain — Testimony of Gen. 
Burnside — Scenes at Port Hudson — Arlington Heights — Campaigning in 
the South — Patriotism of the Twenty-Seventh Regiment — Toilsome 
March — Battle at Marianna — Ravages of Sickness — Summary of the 
Efforts of Maine — Major-Gen. O. O. Howard at Gettysburg — Major-Gen. 
Joshua L. Chamberlain at the Surrender of Lee. 

THE Sixth Mounted Battery, raised by Maine, was composed 
chiefly of young men from the counties of York, Waldo, and 
Aroostook. Freeman McGilvery of Stockton was captain. The 
battery was sent to the aid of the army of Virginia. Gen. Banks, 
with six thousand men, was endeavoring to arrest the march of 
Stonewall Jackson, who had thirty thousand under his command. 
Both the Fourth and Sixth Maine Batteries were brought into 
action at Cedar Mountain. Here the Sixth first experienced 
the terrors and toils of battle. For six hours the deadly fight- 
ing raged. Inexperienced as they were in the horrors of war, 
they stood at their posts so manfully, repelling repeated charges, 
that Gen. Augur, to whose division the battery was attached, 
congratulated Capt. McGilvery on his gallant conduct, and 
said that the battery was the means of repelling the assaults on 
the left flank, and had thus saved the division from destruction. 

A retreat to the Rappahannock was necessary. The little 
band, pressed by out-numbering foes, marching and counter- 
marching, fought night and day, living upon half rations, and 
with scarcely a moment for rest. We cannot follow this 
battery in its heroic career of almost incessant battles. 

Capt. McGilvery received deserved promotion ; and Edwin 
B. Dow of Portland was intrusted with the command. At 

483 



484 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Gettysburg the Sixth performed very efficient service. Though 
it suffered severely, it persistently held its position, and was 
highly complimented by Gens. Tyler and Hunt for its gallantry. 
Lieut. Rogers succeeded Capt. Dow in command of the battery. 

We now return to the regiments. Maine had already fur- 
nished the general government with fifteen regiments ; and it is 
safe to say that none better, in the courage and hardihood of 
the men and their high-toned character, had entered the service. 
In the year 1862, the State was called upon for more men, and 
the Sixteenth Regiment of infantry was organized. Asa 
Wildes of Skowhegan was colonel. 

Sadly yet resolutely these young men left well-tilled farms 
and comfortable homes, their workshops and mills, and all the 
charms of peaceful domestic life, for the hazards and sufferings 
of war. They were men of peace. Dire necessity alone could 
induce them to exchange their homes for the tented field. The 
regiment, like many others, was mustered into the United 
States service by Major J. W. T. Gardiner. 

The troops were sent immediately to Washington ; and, 
crossing the Potomac by Long Bridge, encamped on Arlington 
Heights, the former residence of the very able and very unhappy 
rebel general, Robert E. Lee. Their tents were scarcely reared 
when they were ordered to the front, to meet the rebels who 
had crossed the Potomac, and were threatening Pennsj'lvania. 
It was September. The nights were chill, and there were 
frequent storms. But the regiment had moved so rapidly that 
it was very poorly supplied with clothing or camp equipage. 
The men encamped on the Potomac, about three miles west of 
Sharpsburg. Their only shelter was such as they could con- 
struct from boughs of trees and cornstalks. But these would 
neither exclude wind nor rain. All their baggage remained in 
Washington. Their rations were poor and insufficient. 

The regiment had dwindled to seven hundred men. They 
had no change of clothing, no medicine. Terrible discomfort 
prevailed, with filth and vermin. There must have been great 
incapacity somewhere to have allowed such a state of things to 
exist. Two hundred and fifty were on the sick-list. Many 
died. Exposure, scanty food, and general wretchedness were 
more fatal than the bullets of the foe could have been. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



485 



Under such deplorable circumstances, the Sixteenth received 
marching orders. In a pouring rain they broke camp, and after 
a weary march halted for the night in the woods. It was an 
awful night. The rain fell in torrents. An almost wintry gale 
pierced their thin clothing. There was no shelter. Camp-fires 
could not be built. The bitter cold and general wretchedness 
prevented all sleep. The sufferings of that night will never be 
forgotten by those who endured them. In a long and woful 
march they reached Warrington, on the 7th of November, in a 
heavy snow-storm. 

At length the knapsacks and overcoats of the regiment 
arrived, and the despondency into which the men had been 
plunged was in some degree dispelled. A terrible battle was 
fought at Fredericksburg. These worn and wasted men seemed 
as regardless of shells and bullets as if they were snowflakes. 
They entered the field, swept by the storm of war, about four 
hundred and fifty in number. Two hundred and twenty-six 
were either killed or wounded. Gen. Burnside, who was in 
command of the army, said, u Whatever honor we can claim in 
that contest was won by the Maine men." 

These hardships were terrible. The men had been so 
enfeebled by sickness that nearly every wounded man died. 
The regiment had dwindled down to forty men. A hundred 
and sixty recruits were sent to add to their numbers. There 
seemed to be no end to the sufferings of this regiment. The 
nights became wintry cold. There were long marches through 
mud and rain, and bivouacking almost supperless upon the bleak, 
unsheltered fields. 

Napoleon said that a man who is intrusted with the lives of 
his fellow-men, in a military campaign, should examine him- 
self to see if he is equal to such immense responsibilities. 
There was no intentional neglect in this case, but certainly 
there was great incapacity somewhere. At length these suffer- 
ing patriots reached winter-quarters, and enjoyed a little rest. 
But soon again the turmoil and carnage of almost ceaseless 
battle were recommenced. We can only give the final result. 
The numbers originally forming the regiment, and those sent to 
re-enforce it, amounted to two thousand and ninety-seven. Of 



486 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



these the total loss by the casualties of the campaigns numbered 
twelve hundred and ten. 

The Seventeenth Regiment of Infantry was mainly from the 
counties of York, Cumberland, Androscoggin, and Oxford. 
Thomas A. Roberts of Portland was colonel. It was speedily 
sent to the battle-fields of Virginia. At Fredericksburg and 
Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and many other fields of 
carnage, they fought with valor which proved their readiness to 
die for their country. 

And so it was with the Eighteenth Regiment, under Col. 
Daniel Chapin of Bangor ; the Nineteenth, under Col. Frederick 
D. Sewall of Bath ; and the Twentieth, under Col. Adelbert 
Ames of Rockland. Joshua L. Chamberlain of Bowdoin Col- 
lege, Brunswick, was lieutenant-colonel. Upon the promotion 
of Col. Ames, Col. Chamberlain took the command. His 
gallantry speedily caused him to be promoted by Grant, on the 
field where he was wounded, to the rank of brigadier-general. 
Adelbert Ames was also appointed brigadier-general, at the 
request of Gens. Hooker, Meade, and Howard, for great hero- 
ism displayed at Chancellorsville. To record the achievements 
of these regiments would be but to repeat what has already 
been written. They passed through the same scenes of weary 
marches, cold bivouacs on rain-drenched fields, and terrible 
battles. 

The Twenty-First Regiment had Elijah D. Johnson of Lewis- 
ton for its colonel. It was sent far away to the marshes and 
the bayous of the extreme South, where sickness was more to 
be feared than bullet or bayonet. Though wasted by sickness, 
it did good service at the siege of Port Hudson. In one 
assault it lost, in killed and wounded, sixty in less than half an 
hour. The survivors of the regiment were present at the sur- 
render of the fort. Their term of service having expired, they 
were transported home. The fame of their heroism had gone 
before them, and they received a continuous ovation along the 
route. 

The Twenty-Second Regiment was rendezvoused at Bangor. 
Heniy Crosby of Hampden was colonel. These troops were 
sent, by the way of Washington and Fortress Monroe, to New 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



487 



Orleans. Thence it ascended the river to take part in the 
terrible struggle raging around Port Hudson. And here we 
have but the same story to tell of toil, exhaustion, wounds, 
death, and the final victory of those who survived these awful 
scenes. 

The Twenty-Third Regiment was organized under Col. 
William Wirt Virgin of Norwa}^. The young men were 
generally from Androscoggin and Oxford Counties. It is said, 
that morally and intellectually this regiment was composed of 
perhaps the best set of men who had thus far left the State. 
These troops spent most of their time in guarding Washington. 
Their labors were very severe, in digging rifle-pits and redoubts, 
building barricades, and in performing picket duty. Under 
these toils and exposure about fifty died during the ten months 
the regiment was in service. 

The Twenty-Fourth Regiment was organized at Augusta. 
George M. Atwood of Gardiner was colonel. Their career was 
indeed an arduous one. They were sent to the unhealthy 
South, and to the unintermitted toils which attended the siege 
of Port Hudson. Nine hundred of the stalwart sons of Maine 
left Augusta. At the end of the year for which they enlisted 
but five hundred and seventy returned ; and yet not one was 
killed in battle. 

The Twenty-Fifth Regiment, like several others, enlisted for 
nine months' service. Francis Fessenden of Portland was 
colonel. The regiment numbered nine hundred and ninety- 
three men. It rendezvoused at Portland, and first repaired to 
Capitol Hill, in Washington. Here it was assigned to the 
third brigade of Casey's division, and Col. Fessenden was 
placed in command of the brigade. In a furious storm the 
troops were removed to Arlington Heights. Here several 
months were spent in severe labor, guarding Long Bridge, and 
constructing fascines, gabions, magazines, and bomb-proofs. 
Though the regiment participated in no engagement, it per- 
formed the arduous and responsible duties which were assigned 
to it with great fidelity, and was greeted on its return with 
warm encomiums. 

The Twenty-Sixth Regiment was raised mainly in the coun- 



488 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



ties of Knox, Hancock, and Waldo. Bangor was its place of 
rendezvous, and Nathaniel H. Hubbard of Winterport was its 
colonel. These troops were first sent to Arlington Heights, 
then to Fortress Monroe, then to Newport News, then in a 
magnificent fleet to Ship Island, then to New Orleans, then to 
Baton Rouge. Here commenced the dull routine of camp-life. 
After a delay of two months the Twenty-Sixth, with other 
forces, was put in motion on the march to Port Hudson. Hav- 
ing accomplished the object of this expedition, they returned to 
Baton Rouge, and there embarked on a river steamer, and 
descended sixty miles to Donaldsonville. From this point they 
took up their line of march to Thibodeaux, thirty-six miles 
west of the Mississippi. Thence the troops were transported 
by rail to Brashear City. Upon this expedition the regiment 
engaged in the battle of Irish Bend. It was a hard-fought 
conflict, amidst scenes of sublimity and terror which deserve 
minute record. In this deadly struggle the regiment lost sixty- 
eight men out of three hundred. From the blood-stained field 
the troops ascended the Bayou Teche to the Red River. 

On the 26th of May they returned to Brashear City, after a 
bold, fatiguing, perilous campaign of forty-three days, beneath 
the blaze of an almost meridian sun. They proceeded to Port 
Hudson, and took gallant part in the siege until the rebels 
surrendered. Having thus performed their engagements, they 
ascended the river to Cairo, and thence home. In this gallant 
expedition of nine months two hundred of the noble sons of 
Maine were lost. 

The Twenty-Seventh Regiment was mainly from York 
County, and was rendezvoused at Portland. Rufus P. Tapley 
of Saco was colonel. Its first destination was Central Vir- 
ginia. Through a severe winter the regiment remained, guard- 
ing, much of the time, a picket-line eight miles long. Col. 
Tapley was succeeded by Lieut.-Col. Wentworth. This was 
the most anxious hour of the war. The rebel Gen. Lee, with 
his immense forces, was moving up for the invasion of Pennsyl- 
vania. Incendiaries were crowding our Northern cities. Trai- 
tors in the North were openly avowing sympathy with the 
Southern rebellion, Want of confidence in the commander of 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



489 



the Union army rendered a change necessary. All the old 
troops had been sent forward to oppose the exultant foe. The 
national heart was oppressed with anxiety. Washington was 
left exposed. The term for which this regiment had enlisted 
had expired. 

The President and the Secretary of War entreated the 
Twenty-Seventh to remain for the protection of the capital. It 
was a remarkable regiment. Gentlemen from each of the 
liberal professions were in its ranks, and farmers and mechanics, 
who were making heavy pecuniary sacrifices by their absence 
from their homes. They remained. The battle of Gettysburg 
was fought ; and the dark cloud of peril passed away. Greeted 
with benedictions in Washington, these patriotic troops were 
received at home with blessings. The regiment left Maine 
nine hundred and forty-nine strong, and had never less 
than seven hundred and forty ready for duty. Medals were 
awarded to the men by the War Department, for serving beyond 
the term for their enlistment. 

The Twenty-Eighth Regiment was under Ephraim W. Wood- 
man of Wilton, colonel. They proceeded first to New York, 
and were quartered one night in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, 
where Rev. Henry Ward Beecher and prominent members of 
his church assisted in nursing the sick. After spending a short 
time in that vicinit}-, the troops were sent to New Orleans by 
the way of Fortress Monroe. It would be difficult to describe 
their vast variety of marchings and counter-marchings, their 
skirmishes, and the innumerable arduous toils which they 
performed. Some of the conflicts in which they engaged were 
as desperately fought as any during the war. 

The Twenty-Ninth Regiment was rendezvoused at Augusta. 
George L. Neal of Norway was colonel. It was sent immedi- 
ately to New Orleans. These troops, many of whom had 
previously enlisted for nine months, entered almost immediately 
upon a series of bloody battles. In the sanguinary conflict, of 
Pleasant Hill they won a signal victory. Col. Beal was placed 
in command of a brigade. On one expedition the troops 
marched four hundred miles. They were at one time sixty 
hours without sleep, and with but little food ; and during that 
time they marched fifty-six miles, and fought two battles. 



490 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Having performed wondrous deeds, of toil and gallantry in 
the far South, the regiment was sent back to Virginia, and took 
part in the conflicts which were raging there, until the term of 
its service had expired. 

The Thirtieth Regiment of infantry had in its ranks quite a 
number of experienced soldiers. Francis Fessenden of Portland 
was colonel. It sailed, in the steamship " Merrimac," from Port- 
land for New Orleans. Sickness pervaded the ranks. They 
marched one hundred and sixty miles, over the marshy lands of 
Louisiana, to Natchitoches. They encountered sleet and drench- 
ing rain-storms, with rough and miry roads. Not a few dropped 
by the'wayside, utterly exhausted, and were captured by the 
enemy. Skirmishes and battles ensued, with incidents of chival- 
ric courage, which we have no space to describe. 

Between the 15th of March and the 22d of May, this regi- 
ment marched five hundred miles, and engaged in four battles, 
losing two hundred and twenty-eight officers and men. From 
New Orleans the troops returned to Virginia, and engaged in 
toils as severe as flesh and blood could endure. Daring one 
year these hardy men marched over a thousand miles. The 
true story of what they did and suffered, for the salvation of 
their country, no pen can describe. 

The Second Regiment of cavalry was composed of remarka- 
bly robust men. Ephraim W. Woodman of Portland was 
colonel. They were sent to New Orleans. One hundred and 
fifty horses died on the voyage. Most of the regiment was im- 
mediately ordered to the front to take part in the Red River 
expedition. After a season of active service the regiment was 
sent to Pensacola, in Florida. 

At Marianna, the shire-town of Jackson County, there was a 
terrible conflict in the streets. The rebels threw up barricades, 
and opened a furious fire from churches, houses, and stores. 
Major Nathan Cutler of Augusta had two horses shot under 
him, and fell with a broken leg, a shattered wrist, and other 
severe wounds. From all these wounds he recovered. Many 
others were killed or wounded, twenty-nine in all. 

But in this successful raid the troops took one hundred pris- 
oners, a large amount of commissary and quartermaster stores, 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



491 



two hundred and fifty horses and mules, four hundred head of 
cattle, and five hundred contrabands. There were several other 
raids, one into the State of Alabama. In one of these a train 
of fifty wagons was brought into camp, by Lieut.-Col. Spurling 
of the Second Maine, for a distance of sixty miles through the 
enemy's country, while attacked almost every hour, in front, 
flanks, and rear, by a force superior to his own. 

The change from the pure air and healthy food of their homes 
in Maine to the malarious climates of Louisiana and Florida, 
and all the hardships and deprivations of camp-life, caused so 
much sickness, that at one time, from a regiment of nine hundred 
and eighty-nine, only four hundred and fifty reported for duty. 
The sad condition of the regiment being made known, Maine 
immediately sent to the suffering men a bountiful supply of 
vegetables and other articles for their comfort. 

The Seventh Mounted Battery, under Adelbert B. Twitch ell 
of Bethel, as captain, was sent to Virginia, and in its first 
battle, at Spottsylvania, fought from morning till night. In 
that battle it obtained celebrity which gave it rank with the 
most experienced batteries in the army. At Bethesda Church 
and Cold Harbor, it was again under a severe fire. In front of 
Petersburg it took part in the fierce strife which raged there for 
so many months. Sharpshooters were continually watching for 
every exposure, and sixty-four-pound mortar shells were fre- 
quently thrown over their ramparts. The battery was composed 
of a superior class of men, and was highly commended for its 
discipline and efficiency. 

An independent organization was raised, called the First 
District Columbia Cavalry. Maine contributed about eight 
hundred men to this organization. Col. L. C. Baker was in 
command. These troops plunged into that series of bloody 
battles in Virginia, which attended the close of the war. They 
encountered victories and defeats, but rendered efficient service, 
and, when attacked by overwhelming numbers, displayed brave- 
ry which could not have been surpassed. 

The Thirty-First Regiment of infantry was rendezvoused at 
Augusta, and was pushed forward rapidly to Virginia to aid in 
the concluding scenes of the conflict. George Varney of Ban- 



492 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



gor was colonel. He was succeeded by Col. Thomas Hight of 
Augusta. The regiment immediately took part in the battles 
of the Wilderness, fought bravely, and suffered severely. In one 
of their first conflicts they lost, in killed, wounded, and missing, 
two hundred and ninety -five men. Then, for six successive 
days, they were under fire. At Petersburg they won great 
praise. Sickness, wounds, death, and capture at one time so 
reduced the regiment that but sixty reported for duty. Recruits 
were sent to fill up their dwindled ranks. 

The Thirty-Second Regiment of infantry was rendezvoused at 
Augusta. Mark F. Went worth of Kittery was colonel. Vir- 
ginia was the theatre of their exploits. At Spotts3'lvania, they 
were placed in the most exposed part of the line. For eight 
successive days they were under fire. The carnage encountered 
in the conflicts in which these troops were engaged was awful. 

Another military organization was formed in Maine, called 
the First Regiment Veteran Artillery. John Goldthwait of 
Windsor was in command. 

But we must bring this brief narrative to a close. It would 
require far more space than we can give, to do any thing like 
justice to the achievements of the troops of Maine during the 
war. The space which can be devoted to that subject here 
enables us to present but little more than a catalogue of the 
most important organizations. Many heroic deeds are left un- 
recorded. Even the names of many men whose deeds merit 
record, we cannot mention. We can only give an abstract, 
and a very imperfect one, of the heroic efforts which the citi- 
zens of Maine made to rescue our country from the foulest 
rebellion to be found in the annals of history. 

During the four years of this dreadful strife, Maine sent 
seventy-two thousand nine hundred and forty-five men to the 
battle-field. She furnished thirty-two infantry regiments, three 
regiments of cavalry, one regiment of heavy artillery, seven 
batteries of mounted artillery, seven companies of sharpshoot- 
ers, thirty companies of unassigned infantry, seven companies 
of coast-guards, and six companies for coast fortifications ; six 
thousand seven hundred and fifty men were also contributed to 
the navy and marine corps. The total number who perished 



TEE EISTOET OF MAINE. 



493 



during these campaigns, in the army list, amounted to seven 
thousand three hundred and twenty-two. We have no record 
of the killed and wounded, and of those who died of disease, in 
the navy and marine corps. The whole amount of bounty paid 
throughout the State was nine million six hundred and ninety- 
five thousand six hundred and twenty dollars and ninety-three 
cents. Hospital stores were contributed to the amount of seven 
hundred and thirty-one thousand one hundred and thirty-four 
dollars. 

The above record is a surprising one. No one would have 
deemed it possible that the State of Maine could have sent so 
many troops to the field, or that she could contribute such vast 
sums to meet the expenses of the war. In the narrative of this 
dreadful conflict it will be generally admitted that there are 
two of the sons of Maine who merit especial mention. 

Gettysburg was perhaps the turning-point in the tide of bat- 
tle. Gen. Lee, with ninety thousand men, was on the rapid 
march to overwhelm the diminished army of Hooker, capture 
Washington, and enrich the Confederacy by the plunder of the 
cities and granaries of Pennsylvania. He concentrated his 
giant army at Gettysburg. Gen. O. O. Howard, with the 
Eleventh Corps, was sent forward to do every thing in his power 
to retard the advance of the rebels, while divisions of the Union 
army were hurrying, by forced marches, to the position where 
it was now evident that a decisive battle was to take place. 

With eight thousand men, Gen. Howard met the brunt of 
battle, and drove back the foe. His corps was posted on Ceme- 
tery Hill. Its capture was certain victory to the rebels. Lee, 
the ablest general of the rebels, gathered up all his strength for 
that purpose. It was late in the afternoon ; the enormous masses 
of Early's division advanced in majestic march to the attack. 
There stood Gen. Howard, with his calm, manly, honest face. 
" An empty coat-sleeve is pinned to his shoulder, memento of a 
hard-fought field before, and reminder of many a battle-scene 
his splendid Christian courage has illumined." After a terrific 
struggle the rebels gained a position, where they made prepara- 
tions for a desperate assault on the morrow, with scarcely a 
doubt of their success. 



494 



TEE EI STORY OF MAINE 



At the early dawn, the batteries of Gen. Howard thundered 
forth their challenge for a renewal of the fight. Soon the battle 
was resumed, with all its indescribable tumult and dreadful 
fury. Gen. Howard, who was guiding this tempest of war, 
was calmly leaning against a gravestone. His aids were 
gathered around him, watching the sublime sweep of the war- 
cloud before them. 

" I have seen many men in action," an eye-witness writes, 
" but never one so imperturbably cool as this general of the 
Eleventh Corps. I watched him closely as a Minie whizzed 
overhead. I dodged, of course : I never expect to get over that 
habit ; but I am confident that he did not move a muscle, by 
the fraction of a hair's-breadth." 

At length the whole field of battle was buried in a cloud of 
smoke. Gen. Howard, turning to one of his aids, said in 
calm tones, " Ride over to Gen. Meade, and tell him that the 
fighting on the right seems more terrific than ever, and appears 
to be swinging around towards the centre ; and ask him if he 
has any orders." 

The aid soon came galloping back, with the reply, " The 
troops are to stand to arms, sir, and watch the front." 

Firmly they stood, pouring in a steady storm upon their foes, 
while the thunders of one of the most terrible battles ever 
waged on earth deafened the ear, and the ground was strewed 
with the wounded and the dead. I am not, however; describ- 
ing the battle, but simply an important incident in the battle. 
On they came, yelling like demons, six brigades in number. 
Two hundred and fifty pieces of rebel artillery were concentrat- 
ing their fire upon our centre and left. It is said that Gen. 
Howard ordered one after another of his guns to be quiet, as if 
silenced by the fire of the enemy. The rebel lines came rush- 
ing on, four miles long. From that whole length there was an 
incessant blaze of fire, emitting a storm of bullets, balls, and 
shells, which it would seem that no mortal energies could en- 
dure. 

When the foe was within point-blank range, so that every 
bullet of grape or canister would accomplish its mission, the 
cannoneers sprang to their guns. Sheets of flame and smoke, 



THE BISTORT OF MAINE. 



495 



and death-dealing iron and lead, smote them in the face ; and 
they fell as though the angel of death had spread his wings 
on the blast. When the smoke cleared away, the charging 
lines before Cemetery Hill had vanished. The ground was 
covered with mutilated bodies, some still in death, and many 
writhing in agony. A few stragglers were seen here and there, 
on the rapid retreat. 

The gloom of night was soon spread over this awful spectacle. 
In the morning, Lee commenced his retreat. He had lost in 
killed, five thousand five hundred ; in wounded, twenty-one 
thousand ; in stragglers and deserters, four thousand ; and nine 
thousand prisoners. Humiliated and bleeding, the fragments 
of his army hastened back to Virginia, having lost forty thou- 
sand men. At Gettysburg, the death-blow was given to the 
heart of the rebellion. Maine may well feel proud of the part 
which her illustrious son Gen. O. O. Howard took in that 
decisive battle. Even the catalogue of the skirmishes and bat- 
tles in which Gen. O. 0. Howard took an heroic part would be 
a long one. 

Major-Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain entered the army from 
his professorship in Bowdoin College, as lieutenant-colonel of 
the Maine Twentieth Regiment of infantry. It was his priv- 
ilege to receive the surrender of Lee's army. The scene of the 
surrender was sublime. The whole rebel army was flying in 
utter defeat from Richmond and Petersburg, over the hills and 
through the vales. The Union army, more than double its 
number, was pursuing it on the north, the east, and the south. 

The flight of the enemy was truly a rout. The path of the 
flying foe was strewed with abandoned artillery, muskets, 
wagons, and all the debris of a defeated army. Soon the rebels 
were overtaken upon a plain surrounded by hills. The Union 
army came pressing on, like a resistless flood, and its batteries 
were planted upon the crests which encircled the plain. There 
was no escape for the rebels. They must either surrender or 
be annihilated. Lee surrendered just as the Union soldiers 
were ready to open their deadly fire. Our troops received the 
first tidings from the shouts which burst from the lips of their 
rebel foes. These haggard men, weary of the war into which 



TEE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



497 



they had been dragged, as they heard the news that the war 
was closed, were almost frantic with joy. Cheer after cheer 
rose from the vanquished, which was echoed back in shout after 
shout from the victors who surrounded them. Both voices, 
that of friend and foe, blended in the joyful cry which one 
would think must have awakened responsive joy among the 
angels in heaven. 

The soldiers on both sides seemed to have lost all memory of 
past animosities. With the Union troops there were tears and 
prayers and cordial embracings. The long agonies of the san- 
guinary conflict were forgotten. The troops, who, in long lines 
in the rear, were hurrying forward to the supposed scene of 
battle, heard the shout, and knew not what it meant. But it 
increased in volume, and came rolling down the ranks, nearer 
and nearer, in thunder-peals. For miles the mountains and the 
forests and the valleys rang with the exultant cheers of those 
who had trampled the rebellion beneath their feet. 

Major-Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain, one of the heroes of 
Gettysburg and Petersburg, and many another bloody fight, 
chanced to be with his division in the van. He drew up his 
troops in a straight line, a mile in length. An equal division 
of the rebel army was marched to a parallel line in front, at the 
distance of but a few feet. All were silent. Not a bugle 
sounded ; not a drum was beat ; not a voice was heard. 

As the vanquished foe came up, Gen. Chamberlain ordered 
his men to present arms. This honor, paid to the heroic vic- 
tims of a cruel rebellion in their hour of humiliation, brought 
tears to the eyes of many rebel officers. One said, " This is 
magnanimity which we had not expected." The defeated 
troops returned the courteous salute before they laid down their 
arms. As this division filed away, another came, and another, 
until twenty-two thousand left behind them their arms and 
their banners. 

Lee's army had been more than three times that number. 
But thousands had been captured ; large numbers had been 
killed and wounded ; and other thousands had thrown down 
their arms, and dispersed in all directions, to return to their 
distant and utterly impoverished homes. The rebel troops 



498 



THE n I STORY OF MAINE. 



were starving. In their disastrous flight they had been com- 
pelled to abandon their provisions. The Union troops, in their 
eager pursuit, had taken but a scanty supply ; but they divided 
their rations with their conquered foe. 

No pen can describe the joy with which the tidings of Lee's 
surrender was received throughout our war-weary and exhausted 
land. The Union was preserved. Our nationality was estab- 
lished. The star-spangled banner was again to float in undis- 
puted supremacy from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf. The 
crushing-out of the rebellion established freedom throughout 
our whole land. It was clear to every mind, that our country 
was entering upon a new era of prosperity, wealth, and power. 
The State of Maine contributed her full proportion in the ac- 
complishment of this glorious result. 

And the country has not been ungrateful to her heroic sons, 
who have accomplished such glorious results. Many monu- 
ments have been reared to perpetuate the remembrance of 
those who have sacrificed their lives. At Togus, a few miles 
east from Augusta, a large and commodious retreat has been 
reared by the government as a home for the disabled soldiers. 
Here, honored by all who visit them, these sons of Maine and 
of other States, rendered helpless by the exhaustion of war, or 
mutilated by the terrible enginery of battle, are provided with 
every thing the nation can give to minister to their comfort. 
From thousands of Christian churches and firesides the prayer 
fervently ascends, that God will bless them, for all that they 
have done and suffered, that our land might be rescued from 
anarchy and ruin. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES. 

Maine, its Location and Size — Mountains — Katahdin — Temperature — 
Agricultural Products — Various Industries — Ship-Building — Railroads — 
Slate Quarries — Little Blue Quarry — Water-Power — Annual Rain-Fall — 
Manufacturing Facilities — The Saco Basin — The Androscoggin — The 
Kennebec — The Penobscot Valley — The St. Croix — The St. John — The 
Salubrious Climate — Prospects of Emigration. 

rpHE State of Maine lies between 42° 57' and 47° 30' north 
-L latitude, and 5° 45' and 10° 10' east longitude from 
Washington. It is the most easterly State of the Union, 
embracing an area of thirty-two thousand square miles, which 
is equal to twenty million acres. It is larger than all the other 
New England States united. The greatest length of the State, 
in a diagonal line from the mouth of the Piscataqua River to 
the extreme northern angle, is three hundred and twenty miles. 
Its greatest width, from the sea near Passamaquoddy Bay west 
to the Canada line, is one hundred and sixty miles. A straight 
line running from the mouth of the Piscataqua River to 
Quoddy Head, the extreme north-eastern cape, would be two 
hundred and fifty miles in length. 1 

The surface of the State is diversified with high mountains, 
broad intervals, and undulating plains. Much of the north- 
western region strongly resembles Scotland in the grandeur of 
its eminences and the beauty of its crystal lakes. In Franklin 
County Mount Abraham rears its majestic brow three thousand 
four hundred feet above the level of the sea. Mount Blue, in the 
same county, is a celebrated place of resort. Its summit reaches 
the height of two thousand eight hundred feet, and opens to 

1 Annual Register of Maine for 1874-5, p. 102. 

499 



500 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



the eye a view of sublimity and beauty which richly rewards the 
tourist who ascends its cliffs. The Sandy River winds along 
its base, whose banks are adorned with thriving New England 
villages. Webb's Pond and other beautiful lakelets gleam like 
burnished silver through the surrounding forests ; and the 
brows of majestic mountains rise around till their cliffs fade 
away in the distant horizon. Bordering the Canada line there 
is a range, called the Highlands, two thousand feet in height. 

Near the coast there are some lofty eminences which arrest 
the eye of the voyager far out at sea. Here some internal 
conyulsions of nature have thrown up thirteen huge granite 
mountains. They can be seen at a distance of sixty leagues, 
and are the first landmark caught sight of by the mariner 
approaching our coast. The highest peak reaches an eleva- 
tion of one thousand five hundred and fifty-six feet. 1 Upon 
the summit of one of these mountains there is a lake, clear as 
crystal, many acres in extent, without any visible outlet or 
inlet. The Camden Hills, on the Penobscot, reach an elevation 
of fifteen hundred feet. 

Mount Katahdin is one of the most remarkable elevations in 
the State. It is situated about seventy miles north-west of the 
head-tide of Penobscot River. The mountain is about twelve 
miles in circumference at its base. Its difficult ascent was first 
accomplished in the year 1804, by a party of seven gentlemen 
from Bangor and Orono. They judged its summit to be ten 
thousand feet above the level of the sea. Under the fourth 
article of the treaty of Ghent, surveyors were appointed to 
ascertain its altitude ; and they pronounced it to be four thou- 
sand six hundred and eighty-four feet above a small river at its 
foot, called Abalajacko-megus, which river was, at that point, 
eleven hundred and fifty feet above the tide-waters of the 
Penobscot. 

This measurement was not deemed satisfactory, as their 
instruments were out of order. Subsequent surveys have given 
its altitude at about five thousand five hundred feet. Its 

1 Williamson gives the attitude of the highest peak at two thousand three 
hundred feet ; Dr. Jackson, in his Geological Surrey, at one thousand nine hun- 
dred feet ; C. O. Boutelle, in the United States Coast Survey, at one thousand 
five hundred and fifty-six feet. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



501 



ascent is difficult. Its sides are covered with a dense forest, 
until within about a mile of the top, where all vegetation 
ceases. The summit is a plain, about half a mile long, but 
much more narrow, covered with a surface of dry white moss. 
The view opened from this point is sublime. The small irregu- 
larities below seem to be levelled to a perfect plain. Sixty lakes 
of varied dimensions and very picturesque forms can be counted. 
On the north-east the view is uninterrupted, till lost in the 
deep blue of the horizon. Towards the south the spectator 
can see the heights of Mount Desert, at the distance of one 
hundred and twenty miles. 

Among these mountains, lakes, and rivers there is spread out 
a region of rich and extensive valleys, which will eventually 
afford homes to a vast population. It is true that the winters 
are long and cold ; but the summers are delightful. There is, 
probably, not a more healthy climate in the world. And the 
clear winters, with the pure atmosphere, are seasons of great 
enjoyment. No one, who has spent a winter in South Carolina 
and in Maine, will deny that there is more suffering in the 
former place from the cold than in the latter. And in South 
Carolina there is no escape from the sultry, burning, debilitating 
heat of the summer nights. 

The annual average of temperature in the State, as ascer- 
tained by tables kept at the observatory on Munjoy's Hill, in 
Portland, for the thirty-two years between 1825 and 1857, was 
43° 23' Fahrenheit. The highest point to which the mercury 
ascended during that time was 100° 5'. The lowest point was 
on the 24th of January, 1857, when the mercury descended to 
25° below zero. At Portland the proximity of the ocean 
diminishes both the summer's heat and the winter's cold. Far 
back in the northern counties the mercury occasionally falls 
several degrees lower. 

At Brunswick, according to the meteorological record kept 
by Prof. Cleaveland, the annual mean temperature for the same 
fifty years was 44° 40' Fahrenheit. The highest temperature 
was 102° ; the lowest, 30° below zero. 

The average number of rainy days in Maine is sixty-four 
during the year. The smallest number, in any year, was thirty- 



502 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



nine ; the largest, ninety -five. The average number of snowy 
days was thirty. The lowest was nineteen ; the highest, fifty. 
July is the only month during the year in which frost in that 
region has never occurred. The amount of water which fell, 
consisting of rain, and snow reduced to water, was, in the year 
1857, forty-seven inches and sixty-six hundredths. In 1858 it 
was forty-three inches and forty-two one-hundredths. In 1859 
it was forty-eight inches and fifty-five one-hundredths. 

In the year 1874 there were published in the State, seventy- 
two newspapers, most of them weekly, a few daily. There 
were also sixty-two banks and fifty-six savings banks. There 
is an increasing appreciation of the adaptation of the State to 
secure all the blessings of healthful and happy homes which 
this earth can give. The God of nature seems to deal in 
compensations. If Maine needs some of the advantages which 
other States enjoy, she receives in return blessings which make 
up for the loss. There are many who can say, — 

" I love my own State's pine-clad hills, 
Her thousand bright and gushing rills, 

Her sunshine and her storms ; 
Her rough and rugged rocks that rear 
Their hoary heads high in the air, 

In wild, fantastic forms." 

The beautiful granite of Maine is every year growing more 
in demand for building purposes, and will eventually become an 
important item of export. The granite-quarry at Hallowell fur- 
nishes as admirable building stone as is found in the world. It 
is of great solidity, and, when dressed, presents a surface quite 
like marble in appearance. In the year 1874 three hundred 
thousand tons of ice were shipped from Maine. Ice that is 
formed where the mercury is twenty degrees below zero is much 
more solid, and withstands the summer heat more firmly, than 
that which is formed where the mercury is ten above cipher. 
The ice-crop promises to be a fruitful source of income. 1 

There is a general impression that Maine is not a good agri- 
cultural State. But statistics prove conclusively that in those 
sections of the State where manufacturing and industrial opera- 

1 Address of Gov. Nelson Dingley, 1874, p. 41. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



503 



tions have been well developed, thus opening a market, the farm- 
ers are as prosperous as in those States where crops are more 
easily reared, but must be sent to a great distance to find a pur- 
chaser. The hay-crop of Maine in 1873 amounted to two 
million tons, whose market value was estimated at twenty-five 
million dollars. This greatly exceeded the value of the wheat- 
crop in any of the Western States of equal population. The 
products of the dairy, which ever command a ready sale, were 
over two million dollars. The aggregate productions of the 
farms, including live stock, reached the large sum of fifty-seven 
million dollars. 

It is a very gratifying fact, that emigration from the State is 
diminishing, and that there are indications that the tide is again 
turning towards those fertile fields where fever and ague are un- 
known, where timber is abundant, where pure, cool, crystal water 
gushes from the hillsides, where the air is invigorating, and 
glowing health abounds. Not one-half of the State has yet been: 
reached by the tiller of the soil. There are still three million 
unimproved acres in the region of the Aroostook. The territory 
there, inviting the settler, is equal to the whole of Massachu- 
setts. The soil is deep and rich, and there a population of a 
million people might find homes of competence. 

Manufacturing, commercial, mechanical, and mining enter- 
prises are very rapidly being developed. In the year 1873 the 
cotton-manufactures of the State amounted to twelve and a 
half million dollars ; wool manufactures, to seven million ; boots 
and shoes, nine million ; leather, four million ; paper, three 
million ; flour and grist-mill products, two and a quarter mil- 
lion ; iron, cast and forged, two million and a half ; machinery, 
two million and a half; edged tools, three-quarters of a million 
oil-cloths, a million and a half ; bricks, half a million ; fertili- 
zers, about eighty thousand dollars ; fish and kerosene oils, half 
a million ; fisheries, three-quarters of a million. 

The ice cut from our rivers amounted in value to over half 
a million dollars ; the granite, cut from supplies which can 
never fail, brought four and a half million dollars ; the lime 
amounted to nearly two million dollars ; and the majestic 
forests, still covering millions of acres, brought to those engaged 
in that one branch of industry nearly ten million dollars. 



504 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



Ship-building ever has been, and for a long time will proba 
bly continue to be, one of the most important branches of indus 
try in the State. Notwithstanding it was a season of great com- 
mercial depression in the year 1873, there were two hundred 
and seventy-six vessels built in Maine, with a tonnage of eighty- 
nine thousand eight hundred and seventeen tons. The esti- 
mated value of these vessels was five and a half million dollars. 
It will appear from the above, that, from what may be consid- 
ered the agricultural products of Maine, the sum of the labors 
of the year 1873 was nearly fifty-seven million dollars. From 
manufacturing and other industrial products, the sum reached 
ninety-six million dollars ; making a total of one hundred and 
fifty-three million dollars. Surely the sons of such a State 
need not emigrate far away from friends and home, to other 
regions, to find remunerative fields of labor. 

In the year 1850 there were two hundred and forty-five miles 
of railroad in the State. In 1874 these lines had been extended 
to nine hundred and five miles. There are quarries of excel- 
lent slate discovered, extending more than eighty miles from 
the Penobscot to the valley of the Kennebec. 

Five miles from Skowhegan there has been opened what is 
called the Madison Slate-Quarry. The mine is not only one of 
wonderful promise, but already of great performance. Proba- 
bly there is nowhere to be found slate of more excellent qual- 
ity for roofing. It is very dark in color, and in toughness and 
elasticity unsurpassed. Its surface is so smooth that it appears 
almost polished. The quarry is apparently inexhaustible, yield- 
ing slate of similar rift and quality with that of the celebrated 
mine in Wales, which has now been worked fifty years. The 
slate has been subjected to experiments which have elicited 
remarkable results. A slab one-fourth of an inch in thickness 
will support a weight of four hundred and fifty pounds. It can 
be perforated to any extent without crumbling, so that the piece 
cut out can be returned and exactly fitted to the hole from 
which it was cut. It can be carved, or turned in a lathe, like 
ebony or ivory. When powdered it becomes an admirable arti- 
cle for the surface-painting of oil-cloths. 

The toughness of the slate is marvellous. Nails may be 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



505 



driven through every square inch, without injuring the texture, 
or breaking the slate. A nail may be driven within an eighth 
of an inch of the edge. It is easily split into plates of exactly 
the same thickness, so that it will lie perfectly level upon the 
roof. An ample supply of water-power enables the proprietors 
to conduct their works with great efficiency. The plates have 
easy access to market by the Maine Central Railroad. 

Several quarries, manufacturing roofing-slate, are in success- 
ful operation at Monson. The oldest quarries in the State are 
at Brownville. For more than thirty years these mines have 
been worked, producing a quality of slate which has given the 
slate of the State of Maine the highest reputation. It is safe 
to say that the world produces no finer roofing material than 
that which is to be found in Maine. 

In Farmington, on the Sandy River, a quarry was opened in 
the spring of 1874. It is called " The Little Blue-Slate Quar- 
ry." The stone, in quality, very much resembles that obtained 
at Brownville. The tests usually applied prove it to be every 
way equal, for roofing purposes, to that celebrated variety. The 
most competent judges, including mineralogists, architects, 
slaters, and slate-dealers, award it high praise in respect to 
color, non-absorption of water, tenacity, and durability. There 
is good reason to expect that a section of this quarry, recently 
opened, will afford material for school-slates of superior quality. 

The commercial facilities of Maine are unsurpassed by any 
State in the Union. The sinuosities of the shore are such, that 
there are between two and three thousand miles of coast-line. 
Its bays and inlets afford innumerable safe harbors. There is 
probably no other portion of the globe which exceeds or equals 
Maine in the magnitude of its water-power. There are one 
thousand five hundred and sixty-eight lakes within her borders, 
at an average elevation of six hundred feet above the level of 
the sea. 

" These," says Gov. Dingley, " form the head waters of five 
thousand one hundred and fifty-one streams, which go rushing 
down towards the ocean, creating three thousand water-powers, 
which afford a force measured by not less than one million horse- 
powers, and equal to the working energy of thirteen million 



506 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



men. When it is remembered that not a thousandth part of the 
water-power of the State is as yet harnessed to machinery, some 
faint idea of the almost boundless extent of our manufacturing 
resources may be obtained." 1 

The annual rain-fall of Maine, assumed at forty-two inches, 
would create a lake, covering eight hundred and seventy-one 
square miles, of the depth of Lake Erie. The inland body of 
water, including lakes and rivers, covers a surface of three 
thousand two hundred square miles. 

There are in Maine four hundred and seventy-one cities, 
towns, and plantations, and one hundred and twenty-four town- 
ships. It is difficult to give with precision the number of 
water-powers, but from a careful estimate it is judged that there 
cannot be less than three thousand one hundred. More than 
half «of these privileges are as yet unused. 

If we subtract from the territory of Maine three thousand 
two hundred square miles for lake, pond, and river surfaces, and 
five hundred square miles for mountain tops and sides, ledges 
and heaths, and tracts too barren to support trees, there is left, 
of cultivated farms and forest surface, twenty-one thousand 
square miles. Of this region there is about fifteen thousand 
square miles of the primeval forest, whose silent depths have 
never echoed to the axe of the settler. 

This vast expanse, destined eventually to afford prosperous 
homes to a large population, is seven times as large as the 
famous " Black Forest " of Germany. Indeed, it is larger than 
the States of Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island united. 
Maine seems to have been designed by nature as a great manu- 
facturing State. These water-powers are admirably located for 
access to our own great commercial centres, by river navigation 
and by railroads. The valleys admit of the extension of rail- 
ways far into the interior. 

" The location of the State amid surrounding seas ; its extent of surface ; 
the disposition of its slopes; its geological structure ; its surface forms and 
extensive forests ; its grand system of lakes, with their uniform connection 
with the rivers, and susceptibility of reservoir improvement ; the low annu- 
al temperature, and especially the low summer temperature, which at once 

i Address of Gov. Nelson Dingley, 1874. 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



507 



reduces evaporation, and contributes to vigorous labor; the winds of the 
State, as a whole maritime in character ; the copious rain-fall, with its uni- 
form distribution throughout the year, and diffusion over the whole State ; 
the late lingering of the snow in spring ; the small percentage of evapora- 
tion, resulting from the low temperature, from the number of rainy, snowy, 
and cloudy days; the consequent large residue of water for removal by rivers, 
and which our favorable surface forms determine to be removed by rivers, 
— taken together, constitute a sum of favorable conditions, which, it is confi- 
dently believed, no other equal area of the globe can surpass, or can, indeed, 
so much as equal. Other districts may have, and certainly do have, some 
one or more of the advantageous features more decidedly developed than 
Maine ; but none can parallel fully, as is believed, their combined series." 1 

These facts seem to indicate that Maine is to become the 
great manufacturing State of the Union. When we add to the 
above considerations, that its climate is in the highest degree 
salubrious, and that, in point of economy, water-power is vastly 
superior to steam-power, it would seem to be inevitable, that 
eventually the hum of productive machinery will resound 
through all these valleys. This will afford a basis for the em- 
ployment of an immense population. And this will give new 
energy to all industrial pursuits, causing harvests to wave over 
all the plains, and cattle to graze over all the hillsides. This 
wonderful water-power is a grand resource of the State, which 
can never fail. It is based upon features of the country, and 
upon recuperative processes of nature, which must be permanent. 
Power is the creator of wealth. Wherever power is found, the 
ingenuity of man will utilize it. The power of Maine is worth 
more to the State than mines of precious metals or reservoirs of 
coal. The State is adopting an eminently wise policy, in en- 
couraging the formation of companies for manufacturing pur- 
poses, in exempting such infant establishments from taxation, 
and in allowing towns to subscribe to the stock of manufacturing 
enterprises. 

In accordance with a recommendation to the legislature by 
Gov. Joshua L. Chamberlain, in 1869, commissioners were 
appointed to explore the water-power of the State. The result 
is contained in an exceedingly valuable volume of about five 
hundred pages, issued by Walter Wells, Esq., superintendent 

1 "Water-Power of Maine, p. 64. 



508 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



of the Hydro-graphic Surve}^. From that volume I glean the 
following facts in reference to several of the most important 
rivers of Maine. 

The Saco River drains a valley seventy-four miles in length, 
and thirty miles in its greatest breadth. The area of this 
valley includes fourteen hundred square miles. Eight hundred 
of these are in Maine, and six hundred in New Hampshire. 
The upper half of the valley is still heavily wooded, with but 
few clearings. It is estimated that one-half of the entire dis- 
trict is still a wilderness. The length of the river, from its 
sources among the mountains to the sea, including its windings, 
is about ninety-five miles. At Saco, the stream is about six 
hundred feet wide. Even in the drought of summer, forty 
thousand cubic feet of water can be commanded per minute, for 
eleven working hours of the day, or eighteen thousand cubic 
feet for the whole twenty-four hours. There are seventy-five 
lakes in this valley. By means of these reservoirs, the volume 
of water may be greatly increased. The descent of the river, 
for about sixty-seven miles, is seven feet to the mile. The 
gross power developed is estimated to be equivalent to seven- 
teen thousand four hundred and ninety-three horse power. 
This is sufficient to drive six hundred and ninety -nine thousand 
four hundred and ninety-three spindles. 

Five miles from Portland, at Westbrook, on the Presumpscot 
River, there is a very important water-power known as the 
" Cumberland Mills Power." There is a fall of twenty feet, 
containing two thousand and thirteen horse power. One of the 
most extensive paper-mills in the country, carried on by S. D. 
Warren & Co., of Boston, is in operation here, all the year round. 
Two hundred and twenty-five men, and one hundred and twenty- 
five women, are employed. The annual produce of the manu- 
facture amounts to over one million of dollars. The chief market 
is in Boston and New York, both easily reached by railroad and 
steamboat. 

The valley of the Androscoggin is about one hundred and 
ten miles in length, and seventy miles in its greatest breadth. 
It extends from the northerly outposts of the White Mountains 
to the ocean. The territory drained by the Androscoggin and 



510 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



its tributaries embraces three thousand six hundred square 
miles. It is judged that one thousand four hundred and eighty 
of these square miles are still covered with the primeval forest. 
The number of tributary streams contributing to the flood of 
the Androscoggin is six hundred and sixty-nine. The length 
of the river from Lake Umbagog to Brunswick, where it 
meets the tide, is one hundred and fifty-seven miles. 

The low run at Brunswick is about one hundred and twenty- 
five thousand cubic feet a minute for eleven hours of the day, 
or fifty-seven thousand for the twenty-four hours. The descent 
of the river, from Lake Umbagog to Brunswick, is twelve hun- 
dred and fifty-six feet, being nearly eight and a half feet a 
mile. There are one hundred and forty-eight lakes in this 
valley, fifteen of which are in New Hampshire. These lakes 
cover a surface of two hundred and thirteen square miles. It 
is estimated that the power of the section of the river, between 
Rumford and the head of the tide, is equivalent to eighty-five 
thousand two hundred horse power. This would drive nearly 
four million spindles. Not one-eighth of this is now used. 

The basin of the Kennebec River is one hundred and forty- 
five miles in length, with seventy-five miles of greatest breadth. 
It covers an area of five thousand eight hundred square miles. 
There are one thousand and eighty-four tributary streams. The 
length of the river from Moosehead Lake to the ocean, includ- 
ing its windings, is one hundred and fifty-five miles. The 
average width of the river at Augusta is seven hundred feet. 
In the summer of 1866, Col. De Witt found that one hundred 
and thirty thousand cubic feet of water per minute passed 
Augusta for the whole twenty-four hours. It is estimated that 
the average will be two hundred ninety- six thousand six hun- 
dred and forty feet each minute, for eleven hours of the day. 
The depth of water on the dam is usually from five to seven feet. 
On one occasion it was ten feet. 

There are three hundred and sixteen lakes in this basin, 
covering an expanse of four hundred and fifty square miles. 
Moosehead Lake is thirty-five miles in length by twelve in 
breadth. At the outlet of the lake there is a dam. Upon 
hoisting the gates, it takes the wave of accumulated water 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



511 



about forty hours to reach Augusta. A strong southerly wind 
will retard it nearly three hours. The river is navigable for 
small vessels to Augusta. The mean period of the opening of 
the river in spring is on the 6th of April, and of closing on 
the 12th of December. 

We give a view of Skowhegan Falls on Kennebec River. 
The total fall is twenty-eight feet within half a mile. Much of 




NORTH CHANNEL DAM, AT SKOWHEGAN, ME. 

it is nearly perpendicular. The fall could be greatly increased 
by dams. A small island of rock divides the fall into two 
channels, and would serve a natural pier to the sections of the 
dam, and as sites for mills. The bottom of the river is a solid 
ledge, and so are the banks. 

In the towns of Madison and Anson, on the Kennebec River, 
there is an important water-power known as the Madison 
Bridge Falls. There is, at this point, a fall of eighty-seven feet 
within a distance of two and a half miles. There are two 
principal pitches. The cut represents the upper one, and shows 
scarcely one-fourth of the descent. The bottom is a ledge, and 
dams can be located at any desired point. 



512 



THE n 1 STORY OF MAINE. 



In the towns of Embden and Solon, on the Kennebec River, 
there is a fall of twenty feet perpendicular, called " Carratunk 
Falls." A dam can easily be built ten feet high. This would 
give thirty feet fall, equal to that at Lowell. Thus there would 
be obtained five thousand five hundred horse-power, which 
would drive two hundred and twenty thousand spindles. The 




MADISON BRIDGE FALLS, ANSON AND MADISON, ME. 



facilities for canalling, by the falls, are very good. The ground 
is admirably graded. An extent of about one hundred acres is 
well adapted for the erection of buildings sufficient to accommo- 
date a large population. 

The valley of the Penobscot River lies east of that of the 
Kennebec. It is entirely within the boundaries of the State. 

" The Penobscot is the only great fluviatile district in Maine which illus- 
trates, in its actual configuration, the geographical idea of the river basin, 
— appearing as a mere point at the mouth of the stream, thence, interior- 
ward , expanding symmetrically on both sides of the central channel, 
presently embranching into subordinate basins, themselves disposed likewise 
symmetrically about tributary streams, and themselves yet further breaking 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



513 



up into still smaller basins, located upon still smaller tributaries, until the 
whole takes on the similitude of a mighty tree, that from one trunk ramifies 
into innumerable branches, and from one grand aorta divaricates into num- 
berless arteries and veins, by which, upon occasion, its entire volume of 
fluids is conducted to and poured into a common channel of circulation 
and discharge." 1 




CARItATUNK FALLS, EMBDEX AND SOLON, ME. 



The greatest length of the valley of the Penobscot, from! 
north to south, is one hundred and sixty miles, and its greatest 
breadth one hundred and fifteen miles. It includes an area of 
eight thousand two hundred square miles. The highest portion 
of the basin, at the head waters of the main river, is about two 
thousand feet above the sea-level. The State map represents 
one thousand six hundred and four streams in the Penobscot 
system. The river from its extreme head waters, including its 
windings, is about three hundred miles in length. The chief 
water-power is between Lake Chesuncook and Bangor, a dis- 
tance of one hundred and twenty miles, where the fall is about 

1 Water- Power of Maine, p. 100. 

33 



514 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



nine hundred feet. It is one of the most highly favored streams 
in the State, presenting, without any artificial aid, remarkable 
uniformity in the volume of water throughout the entire year. 

There are four hundred and sixty-seven lakes in this basin, 
covering a surface of four hundred and sixty-two square miles. 
Many of these lakes are large, and can be used to almost any 
amount for reservoirs. The river can thus meet immense man- 
ufacturing demands. 



UPPER DAM, AT ELLSWORTH, ME. 

At Ellsworth, on Union River, a few miles east from the 
Penobscot, there is a fall of about eighty feet within two miles. 
Above the Upper Dam, the water is level for a long distance. 
The dam throws back the water ten miles. A town of five 
thousand inhabitants has sprung up around these falls. The 
power, for fifty years, has been employed almost exclusively 
for the manufacture of lumber. The annual product has been 
about thirty-five million feet of long lumber, two hundred 
thousand sugar-box shooks, two million laths, five million shin- 
gles, two hundred thousand clapboards, and a large quantity of 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



515 



smaller stuff. The annual value of these productions is esti- 
mated at nearly a million dollars. The principal markets are 
Portland, Boston, New York, and Cuba. 

The valley of the St. Croix is seventy miles in length, and 
fifty in greatest breadth. It embraces an area of one thousand 
one hundred and seventy-five square miles. Eight hundred of 
these are in Maine ; three hundred and seventy -five are in the 
adjacent British Province. Almost the entire flow of the river 
is from lakes, and these may be easily converted into reservoirs. 

The lacustrine aspect of this valley is very remarkable. It 
can hardly be paralleled by any country on the globe. The 
northern branch of the river is almost a continuous lake of vast 
extent, and of wondrous eccentricities of windings and form. 
The western branch is also mainly a lake, broken into many 
small sheets of water. " The river," says Mr. Wells, " might 
almost justly be described as a lake in motion." The total of 
lake surface is estimated at not less than one hundred and fifty 
square miles. 

" A proportion so remarkable places the St. Croix at once, and without 
controversy, in the foremost position among the large rivers of the State, as 
a manufacturing stream, so far as regards natural reservoirs, and in propor- 
tion to its magnitude and its area of basin. The power on the main river, 
from below the junction of the west and north branches, is already, for 
the greater part, well accommodated with railroad communication." 1 

The upper waters of the St. John constitute, in the extreme 
northern part of the State, the boundary between Maine and the 
British possessions. In this region, the right bank of the river 
belongs to Maine ; and, still farther up, the whole stream is 
within our territor}^. The greatest length of the river in Maine, 
measured along its southern border, is about two hundred and 
eleven miles. The greatest breadth of the valley, in these upper 
waters, is ninety miles. The St. John constitutes, next to the 
Androscoggin River, the most elevated drainage in Maine. 

The stream flows through the glooms of a dense but almost 
unbroken wilderness. The total length of this important river, 
from its sources to the sea, is four hundred and fifty miles. The 



1 "Water-Power of Maine, p. 120. 



516 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



area of the lakes in the St. John basin is three hundred and 
fifty square miles. In the upper waters, the slope is so gradual 
that the stream is navigable through nearly the whole length 
of its flow in Maine, being comparatively of little value for the 
purposes of power. 

We have thus given a brief account of the primary, or interior 
river systems in Maine. When it is remembered that there are 
represented, upon the State map, five thousand one hundred and 
fifty-one streams in Maine, and that there are over three thou- 
sand valuable water-powers, it will be seen that a minute detail 
of these privileges is impossible. 

There is a general impression that Maine is too far away in 
the North, and too severe in its climate, to invite emigration. 
Mr. Blodgett writes, in his Climatology of the United States, — 

" The Mississippi Valley has been pre-eminent as the theatre of malari- 
ous fevers, which have been the scourge of emigrants from nearly all parts 
of the world. To the natives of the North of Europe, and the British Isles 
in particular, the change has been extremely trying; and prostration by 
some one of its forms, mild or severe, has been almost certain to attend the 
new-comer. India itself has not been more certain to break the health of 
the emigrant, than the Mississippi Valley, though the American forms of 
disease were always attended with a much smaller ratio of mortality." 

Fever and ague, yellow fever, and cholera are never known 
as epidemics in Maine. Many a farmer has emigrated to the 
malarious regions of the West, with a family of ruddy boys and 
girls, to see them, one and all, wilt down, pale, emaciate, with 
all their energies paralyzed, beneath the scourge of fever and 
ague. And as he himself, now shaking with the chill, and now 
burning with fever, has looked upon his desponding household, 
he has wished, with yearnings which cannot be expressed, that 
he and his family could again breathe the invigorating atmos- 
phere even of a Maine winter. 

It is often said that health is the greatest of blessings. This 
consideration will doubtless influence the young men of Maine 
to remain at home, and improve the wonderful resources which 
God has placed in their hands. And it will doubtless invite 
emigrants from Northern Europe, from Scotland, Germany, 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



517 



Holland, Belgium, Norway, and Sweden. Here they find a 
climate essentially the same with that to which they have 
been accustomed from childhood, and which their ancestors 
have enjoyed for centuries before them. 

It is a great mistake to suppose that a cold climate is unfavor- 
able to prosperity and happiness. There is unquestionably far 
more enjoyment in St. Petersburg, Russia, than in Calcutta. 
The homes of Norway and Sweden are more attractive than 
those of Italy and Southern Spain. I once asked a group of 
thirty boys at school in Farmington, Me., " Which do you like 
best, summer or winter ? " The spontaneous and universal 
response was, " Oh, winter, winter ! " There were some boys 
from Cuba there. No words can express the delight with which 
they enjoyed the magnificent snow-storms, the sleigh-rides, the 
snow-forts, the " sliding down hill," and the skating. Even 
now, in my seventieth year, I feel a thrill of pleasurable emo- 
tion in contemplating the blissful winters which I passed in 
early youth upon the banks of the Kennebec. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 



Normal School in Farmington — Normal School in Castine — Maine Central 
Institute — Oak Grove Seminary — Commercial College — State College of 
Agriculture — Winthrop Grammar School — Kittery District School — Intel- 
lectual, Social, and Physical Advantages of Maine. 

n^HERE is probably no State in the Union where more 



attention is paid to the education of the masses of the 
people, or where better schools are maintained, than in Maine. 
In the report of Hon. Warren Johnson, superintendent of public 
schools, for the year 1874, it would appear that the whole num- 
ber of scholars, between the ages of four and twenty-one, was 
two hundred and twenty-five thousand two hundred and nine- 
teen. There were four thousand one hundred and ninety-nine 
schoolhouses. The estimated value of school-property was a 
little over three million dollars. 

In Farmington there was a normal school in a state of high 
prosperity. The average attendance was a little over one hun- 
dred. The object of this school is the thorough training of 
teachers for their professional labors. It had an excellent phil- 
osophical and chemical apparatus, and a good library. During 
the past ten ye&vs one thousand young men, and one hundred 
and ninety-eight young women, have graduated at this institu- 
tion. 

At Castine there is another normal school. The attendance 
in the spring term of the year 1874 was one hundred and thirty, 
in five classes. The whole number in attendance during the 
year was three hundred and eleven. The regular course of 
study embraced three years. The diligent student in this time 




518 



THE II I STORY OF MAINE. 



519 



could become well qualified to teach in the common schools. 
In one of the late reports we read the following encouraging 
statement : — 

" The earnest, able young men and women of Maine have never before 
had such inducements offered them to become teachers. The workers and 
the work are becoming appreciated. Wages, commensurate with the culture 
and industry of the teacher, are now offered for his services. We have 
not been able to supply the demand for first-class teachers. The free high 
schools are calling for our best teachers, and the demand will increase." 

This high standard of qualifications required in the teacher 
will have an influence on all grades of schools. The work of 
educating the children of the State will be in the hands of those 
who have been systematically trained to the calling, and who 
will enter upon it with an intelligent enthusiasm which will call 
forth the best energies of the pupils. The many interesting 
questions now engaging the attention of prominent educators — 
some of them of vital importance to the future welfare of the 
nation — will be treated by the graduates of these schools with 
a candid and far-reaching consideration, and the whole subject 
of education will be elevated to its proper position in the minds 
of the public. 

Even from a material point, this attention to the cause of 
popular education will have its reward. In the close competi- 
tion for the commerce of the world now going on between the 
leading nations of Europe and America, every power of the 
mind is being cultivated, and brought into action ; new schools 
are being founded, and old ones re-organized ; and the unedu- 
cated peoples will fall behind in the struggle for pre-eminence. 
This State, with its great facilities for manufacturing and me- 
chanical enterprises, and its educated population, will take a 
foremost position among the progressive communities of the 
day. It has certainly reason to congratulate itself upon the 
success which has attended the working of its normal schools. 
The thousands of young men and young women who have 
graduated from the schools at Farmington and Castine have 
gone into all parts of the State, and are now exerting an influ- 
ence, silent, but none the less effective on its school-system* 



520 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



The town of Castine presented the State with a fine lot of 
land, for the erection of a new building, about the year 1872. 
The school was then in successful operation. In the year 1873 




NORMAL SCHOOL, CASTINE. 



the present beautiful edifice was completed. Gov. Perham and 
ihis council, with many distinguished friends of education, 
Attended the dedicatory exercises. An audience of five hun- 
dred was assembled in the hall, and yet it was of capacity to 



accommodate one , 
governor, and by oth^ 

This is one of the l„ 
region around is occupied by a religious, _ 
community, who can well appreciate the vaiut 
The building can accommodate two hundred scholars, aiiu 
already become a powerful instrument in the intellectual 
advancement of the thriving surrounding towns. 




MAINE CENTRAL INSTITUTE, PITTSFIELD, ME. 



In the prosperous village of Pittsfield, about twenty-three 
miles east of Waterville, there is a successful school, called the 
" Maine Central Institute." The regular course of study occu- 
pies four years, and young men and young women are alike 
admitted. A board of twenty trustees presides over the inter- 
ests of this seminary, and it is intended to make it a first-class 
institution. Latin and Greek, French and German, are taught, 
with the higher branches of mathematics, geology, astronomy, 
mental philosophy, and moral science. The terms of tuition 
are low, and board can be obtained in the village for about two 
dollars a week. 

Thus an accomplished education is offered to the sons and 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



523 



daughters in all the farm-houses of that rural district. The 
institute includes a college preparatory course, a normal depart- 
ment, and an academic department. There were in the year 
1874, in the preparatory course, eighty-four pupils ; in the nor- 
mal, thirty-one ; in the academic, one hundred and eight ; mak- 
ing a total of two hundred and twenty-three. 

And yet in the unbroken wilderness, which for countless gen- 
erations had covered these hills and vales, not a solitar}^ white 
man had reared his cabin until the year 1794. In 1815, when 
about a dozen families had opened clearings in the forest, widely 
separated from each other, the region was elevated to the dig- 
nity of a plantation. In 1819 it was incorporated as a town 
by the name of Warsaw, which name was changed to Pittsfield 
in the year 1819. 

At Vassalboro' there is quite a celebrated school, called the 
Oak Grove Seminary, to which a normal department is attached. 
The school year consists of three terms of thirteen weeks each. 
An elevated course of study is pursued. In 1874 there were 
eighteen pupils here preparing for teachers. In Bucksport 
there is an institution called the Conference Seminary and 
Commercial College. It has a faculty of five teachers, and 
about two hundred scholars. 

Westbrook is a beautiful town, which was a part of Falmouth 
until the year 1814. Upon Stevens' Plains in this town, there 
is located a literary institution of high order and superior 
accommodations. It is called Westbrook Seminary, and consists 
of three principal buildings, which will accommodate a large 
number of students. The institution is well patronized, and 
sends out yearly into the community many well-educated pupils 
prepared to be useful in all the walks of common life. The 
accompanying illustration shows vividly the progress the State 
has made since, scarcely a century ago, the Indians reared their 
wigwams on these plains, and pursued their game through the 
glooms of an almost unbroken forest. 

A State College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts was 
opened at Orono, in the year 1868. It is under State patron- 
age, and supervised by a carefully selected board of trustees, of 
which Gov. Coburn in the year 1874 was president. The stu- 



524 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



dents represented every county in the State. The institution 
stands high in the estimation of the community, and is every 
year regarded with increasing favor the several branches of a 
practical education. The number of students in the year 1874 
was one hundred and twenty-one. The institution is partially 
military in its character, though its principal object is to give 
the pupils the best instruction in agriculture and the mechanic 




RESIDENCES OF COL. EBENEZER WEBSTER, MRS. MARTHA (WEBSTER) TREAT, 
AND PAUL D. WEBSTER, Esq. 



arts. It proposes to do this by giving every young man an 
opportunity practically to apply the theoretical teaching he 
receives, by labors on the farm and in the shop. In this way he 
can also partially defray the expenses of his education. No 
student is admitted under fifteen years of age. He is subject to 
an examination in arithmetic, geography, English grammar, his- 
tory of the United States, algebra as far as quadratic equations, 
and five books in geometry. 

The design of this important institution is not merely to pre- 
pare one understandingly to work upon the farm, but to give 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



525 



an education which shall aid the student in all industrial pur- 
suits. Gov. Washburn writes, — 




DISTRICT SCHOOL HOUSE, KITTERY, ME. 



" Considering the locality of the college in its relation to the whole 
State, its proximity to the broad and fertile region of the Aroostook, a 
county containing a larger number of acres of farming lands, of the finest 
quality, than any other five counties in New England; considering the dif- 
ferent kinds of soil on the college farms, furnishing opportunities for a great 
variety of experiments; and considering, finally, the surpassing beauty of 



V 



THE HISTORY OF MATNE. 527 

its site, and its proximity to what I have ever regarded as, beyond question, 
the most charming inland village in the State, so far as the outward setting 
of landscape and scenery is concerned, — I think it must be universally con- 
ceded that the location of the college Was fortunate and wise." 




GRAMMAR SCHOOL HOUSE, WINTHROP, ME. 



There are many other literary and scientific institutions scat- 
tered throughout the State, to which we have not space to 
allude. In previous pages we have spoken of the principal col- 



528 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



leges, and of several of the more important private schools. In 
all the leading towns there is a high school for advanced pupils. 
These buildings, when contrasted with the schoolhouses of 
fifty years ago, may be called palaces. We give pictures of two 
of them, — the Grammar School House in Winthrop, and the 
District School in Kittery, to illustrate the general style of 
these structures. 

In the interesting and very comprehensive little book by 
Hon. John Neal, entitled 44 Portland Illustrated," we find the 
following notice of an important institution called Trie Maine 
General Hospital : — 

" This institution, established in love to that small part of the great 
human family of sufferers in whom we have a special interest, occupies 
what were known as the Arsenal Grounds, on Bramhall's Hill, of two and a 
half acres. 

" More than fifty thousand dollars have been raised by private subscrip- 
tion among ourselves in the city ; while the State has contributed twenty 
thousand dollars conditionally, together with these Arsenal Grounds. 
These conditions having been more than fulfilled, the buildings are now so 
near completion as to make it sure that before long we shall have a magnifi- 
cent charity in full operation to be thankful for.* 

" The central building is five stories, with a mansard roof; and there are, 
as you see, four pavilions, with an amphitheatre, a boiler-house, and a 
kitchen. From every window there is a wide, rich, and beautiful prospect 
of the whole surrounding country; and, from every part, either a view of 
the sea and the cove, or a view of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, 
sixty miles away, with all the intervening villages and elevations, woods and 
waters; and being always open to the sea-breezes on the one side, and to the 
winnowed atmosphere of our Switzerland upon the other, a store-house of 
health and vitality, the sick and languishing may be sure of nature's best 
and surest help at all seasons. ' ' 



The writer is conscious, that, in the endeavor to give the his- 
tory of Maine in one volume, many important facts or events 
may have been omitted, which some will regret, and which per- 
haps he may regret when his attention is called to them. But he 
has, according to the best of his judgment, selected those inci- 
dents which he has thought would be most interesting and 

* Since the above was w ritten, the hospital has been opened to patients, and is 
now in successful operation. 



530 



TEE HISTORY OF MAINE 



instructive to the general reader. And he is sure that this nar- 
rative truthfully presents Maine in an attitude of which all 
her sons and daughters may be proud. 

Life is everywhere a battle. It is in vain for any one to 
escape toil and trouble. But, all things considered, there is 
probably not on this globe a more favored, comfortable, and 
happy population than that of Maine. 

It is true that cold breezes sweep its surface in winter ; but 
these blasts, with healing on their wings, drive all malarious 
exhalations from the land, give elasticity to the mind, buoyan- 
cy to the spirits, and invigoration to all physical energies. The 
soil is certainly not so rich as in some of the renowned prairies 
and valleys of the West ; but the water is cool, and pure and 
clear as crystal. The forests afford an abundance of every 
variety of valuable timber ; and the streams, born among the 
mountains, and rushing over their rocky beds, invite to all the 
branches of manufactures. 

The flood of foreign immigration is not pouring into Maine as 
into some other parts of the Union. But this saves the State 
from a vast amount of inebriation, vagabondage, crime, and pau- 
perism. And those who do select Maine as their home gener- 
ally come from those countries of Northern Europe where intel- 
ligence and piety prevail. 

This renders the community in Maine in a remarkable degree 
homogeneous. The society is in a high degree intelligent, moral, 
and social. And thus it is that Christian churches arise in ever}- 
village, that intemperance can be arrested as scarcely anywhere 
else, that schools and colleges are multiplied, and intelligence 
and morality are widely diffused. It would be difficult to find 
in any portion of our land more happy homes than are found in 
Maine. 



POPULATION AND VALUATION, 1860 AND 1870. 



ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY. 







1860. 






1870. 






Population. Polls. 


Estates. 


Population. 


Polls. 


Estates. 


AuTvurn 


K OA A 


1,234 


$1,224,070 


6,169 


1,591 


&2 918 101 


1 1 rTi 51 TY1 


1 AOfl 


412 


459,376 


1,350 


356 


482,861 


Ecist Livcnnor6 


i noQ 


258 


301,702 


1,004 


255 


388^680 




1 QQ/4 


303 


338,402 


1,094 


315 


43Q62Q 




•7 A04 


1,217 


2,426,374 


13,600 


2 258 


8 813 69Q 




1 Q7A 


355 


404,016 


2,014 


451 


741 092 


T,ppH<i 


1 OfkA 


330 


333,035 


1,288 


420 


4^6348 


T.ivpnnnrp 




355 


430,779 


1,467 


404 


524 267 






403 


546,581 


1,569 


384 
cot 


610 ^11 


"PnlnnH 


O *7AR 


584 


517,671 


2,436 


OD& 




Turner 




708 


748,218 


2,380 


OO 4 


Ol K aQA 


T^TalpQ 




155 


188,642 


556 


153 


99Q S^Q 


WpHctPt* 


890 


237 


312,015 


939 


-io 




Total 


..29,726 


6,551 


$8,230,892 


35,866 


7,894 


$17,592,555 






AROOSTOOK COUNTY. 










53 


$28,884 


311 


82 


$44,676 




.. 307 






413 


69 


41,741 




491 


94 


44,372 


605 


123 


83,263 




.. 606 


128 


68,830 


445 


87 


98,531 




.. 320 






522 


106 


69,879 










1,851 


274 


80,600 


Fort Fairfield . . 


.. 901 


167 


75,975 


1,893 


360 


276,800 


Fort Kent 








1,034 


172 


65,357 




.. 545 






688 


113 


40,865 










107 


25 


24,493 




.. 963 


202 


118,467 


989 


210 


197,832 




.. 2,035 


360 


240,000 


2,850 


457 


681,646 




161 






263 


64 


27,647 




.. 785 


200 


77,270 


1,008 


2*3 


117,917 




.. 543 


108 


53,932 


700 


151 


94,257 




.. 287 


64 


24,548 


371 


77 


57,888 






57 


26,264 


1,410 


256 


155,702 




.. 585 






1,041 


148 


65,155 


Mars Hill 


.. 201 






399 


78 


45,811 




190 


34 


19,801 


169 


40 


39,479 




665 


115 


57,952 


758 


163 


140,057 




.. 483 


96 


54,369 


760 


166 


138,585 


New Limerick.. 


.. 226 


47 


26,712 


308 


76 


43,450 




.. 233 


36 


17,712 


219 


39 


35,000 



531 



532 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 







1860. 






1870. 






Population. 


Polls. 


Estates. 


Population. 


Polls. 


Estates. 


Presque Isle . 


... 723 


161 


79,874 


970 


182 


180,786 










701 


171 


109.240 




165 


28 


24,793 


159 


37 


35,698 




... 318 






449 


100 


63,021 




... 394 


85 


42,230 


394 


86 


49,846 



PLANTATIONS 

Alva 486 

Bancroft 304 63 

Castle Hill 

Crystal 

Eagle Lake 

Greenwood 

Hamlin 

Haynesville 169 

Island Falls 

Macwahoc 202 

Mapleton 

Wade 

Sarsfield 473 

Reed 72 

Wallagrass 

St. Johns 

St. Francis 

Westfield 

Perliam 

Moro 

Molunkus 61 

VanBuren 616 

Glenwood 

Oakfield 

Cyr 

Woodland 

No. 9, R. 6 

Portage Lake .... 

Letter F, R. 1 

Letter B, R. 2 

Letter C, R. 2 

No. 1, R. 5 

Dyer Brook 

Merrill 105 

No. 7, R. 5 

No. 8, R. 5 

No. 9, R. 5 

Chapman 

No. 11, R. 1 

No. 11, R. 6 

Buchanan 

Nashville 

No. 15, R. 7 

No. 15, R. 6 

No. 17, R. 6 

Letter K, R. 2.... 

No. 18, R. 10 

Uninc'd townships 
above St. Francis 
Wild lands 



D TOWNSHIPS. 






496 


98 


35.093 


23,810 177 


54 


39,513 


237 


67 


20,053 


250 


56 


32,115 


143 




47 






558 


96 


28,218 


165 


21 


26,558 


183 


63 


37,904 


170 


43 


41,407 


444 


110 


28,707 


76 




54 






297 






127 






253 






76 


17 


20,869 


79 


26 


12,905 


121 


36 


22,6S5 


61 






922 


115 


46,233 


185 


44 


27,408 


559 


116 


25,068 


376 




174 


37 


14,474 


100 


29 


19,340 


124 




67 






46 






6 






38 






129 






118 






16 






29 






25 






40 






274 


49 


2,3050 


51 






69 
30 






6 






2 






83 






132 






51 






156 






95,561 




1,155,591 



Total 



22,479 2,098 $2,221,462 29,609 



5,212 $4,992,285 



CENSUS AND VALUATION. 



533 



CUMBERLAND COUNTY. 







1860. 






lo/U. 






Population. Polls. 


Estates. 


Population. 


Polls. 


Estates. 




. 1,227 


282 


$212,918 


1,101 


292 


$256,225 




. 2,556 


617 


697,148 


2,685 


667 


855,197 




. 4,723 


766 


1,761,904 


4,687 


916 


2,305,806 


Cape Elizabeth . 


. 3,27S 


538 


757,632 


5,106 


1,007 


1,784,831 




, 1,116 


258 


212,695 


998 


258 


241,486 




1,713 


390 


455,540 


1,626 


399 


511,920 


Deering, incorp. 


Feb. 16, 


1871 : taken from Westbrook. 


961 


2,194,096 




. 1,935 


423 


621,978 


1,730 


443 


688,527 




. 2,792 


682 


821,460 


2,457 


594 


912,053 






732 


1.086,704 


3,351 


774 


1,445,968 




. 1,767 


408 


360,080 


1,738 


431 


480,780 




. 1,603 


401 


446.288 


1,749 


430 


454,601 




1,251 


294 


241.072 


1.219 


307 


304,635 




. 1,219 


288 


233,327 


1,058 


278 


268,645 


New Gloucester 


. 1,654 


404 


665.946 


1.496 


407 


848,905 


North Yarmouth. 1,076 


244 


454,776 


'940 


222 


523,086 




1 1QQ 
. ±,j.y«7 


285 


255,904 


1,099 


269 


298,582 






4,244 


21,866,000 


31,413 


7,814 


29,439,257 




1 053 


264 


345,889 


981 


264 


378,355 


T? O XT m ATI ^1 


1 90Q 

. _L.__L T 


274 


167,260 


1,120 


305 


229,121 




. 1,807 


457 


537,478 


1,692 


410 


705,728 




. 958 


227 


149,623 


803 


221 


175,550 


Standish 


. 2,067 


510 


451,689 


2,0S9 


535 


• 492,709 


Westbrook 


. 5.113 


1,099 


1,834.050 


6,583 


600 


1,097,048 




. 2,635 


555 


786,758 


2,428 


540 


1,014,877 




. 2,027 


476 


930,841 


1,872 


468 


1,155,591 


Total 


.75,591 


15,098 


$36,361,035 


82,021 


19,812 


$48,942,323 






FRANKLIN COUNTY. 








. 802 


162 


$129,977 


610 


141 


$149,693 




. 503 


121 


63,557 


486 


124 


96,070 


Ckesterville 


. 1,110 


276 


230,446 


1,011 


241 


288,353 




. 301 






342 


80 


57,558 




. 3,106 


689 


998,814 


3,251 


753 


1,448,735 




. 666 


157 


129,137 


608 


158 


146,090 




827 


187 


180,096 


725 


181 


209,319 




.. 1,680 


400 


367,722 


1,490 


358 


497,029 




.. 670 


152 


99,451 


560 


137 


110,910 




. 491 


97 


44,821 


394 


1 AO 

lOo 


oo,7o4 


New Sharon. . . . 


. 1,731 


399 


427.866 


1,451 


Oov 




New Vineyard. . 


. 864 


187 


143,387 


755 


1QQ 






. 1,698 


369 


323,701 


1,373 


OOO 


10,0 <o 


Rangeley 


. 238 


65 


43,579 


313 


74 


75,239 




. 396 


83 


71,715 


307 


71 


64,432 




. 754 


173 


152,959 


634 


165 


220,794 




726 


150 


113,509 


640 


156 


101,981 


Weld 


. 1,035 


262 


176,847 


1,130 


261 


245,260 


Wilton 


. . 1,920 


428 


477,543 


1,906 


437 


595,260 




PLANTATIONS AND TOWNSHIPS. 














32 






Letter E 




23 


$13,066 


93 


21 


$12,931 




. . 168 






149 


35 


23,458 




46 






45 




15,246 










31 


14 



534 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



I860. 1870. 

Population. Polls. Estates. Population. Polls. Estates. 

Dallas 159 

Sandy River 177 111 

Washington 62 12 6,000 

Lang 36 11 19,924 

No. 4, Range 3 . . . . 25 

No. 4, Range 2.... 8 9 

Green Yale 9 10,556 

Coplin 31 23,235 

Gctchell 134 

No. 1, Range 3. ... 90 69 

No. 2, Range 3. ... 39 

No. 3, Range 2. ... 25 

Wild lands 91,650 172,900 



Total..: 20,403 4,380 $4,285,843 18,807 4,518 $5,791,659 



HANCOCK COUNTY. 





384 


83 


$50,046 


350 


89 


$57,276 




. 277 


60 


40,272 


212 


48 


32,052 


BluehiU....!.... 


. 1,993 


431 


358,176 


1,707 


432 


397,620 




. 1,043 


235 


136,436 


966 


252 


186,899 




. 1,428 


303 


198,998 


1,275 


322 


238,987 


Bucksport 


. 3,554 


780 


975,137 


3,433 


804 


1,219,881 




. 1,357 


269 


764,571 


1,303 


2.58 


461,343 


Cranberry Isles. . 


. 345 


73 


53,710 


350 


86 


61,514 




. 3,500 


738 


362,520 


3,414 


749 


417,211 




. 495 


113 


94,388 


448 


106 


102,752 




. 221 


43 


29,354 


187 


49 


39,288 


Eden 


. 1,247 


250 


158,464 


1,195 


290 


196,499 


Ellsworth 


. 4,658 


847 


896,299 


5,257 


1,097 


1,233,199 




. 1,004 


211 


123,056 


1,042 


219 


168,348 


Gouldsborough. . 


1,717 


374 


180,822 


1,709 


434 


224,690 




. 923 


215 


133,236 


974 


244 


163,904 










612 


156 


142,449 




. 458 


82 


49,106 


369 


109 


65,742 




. 916 


196 


129,839 


918 


226 


158,069 




. 1,787 


374 


312,543 


1,701 


407 


374,390 




210 


49 


22,538 


246 


60 


26,407 




. 1,557 


326 


193,375 


1,418 


329 


227,356 


Sedgwick 


. 1,263 


259 


192,018 


1,113 


274 


197,706 




. 862 


207 


135,994 


796 


210 


141,954 




. 1,319 


294 


164,022 


1,242 


283 


209,137 




. 1,768 


407 


192,984 


1,822 


419 


262,353 




. 1,400 


300 


240,667 


678- 


323 


260,729 




. 399 


95 


44,143 


352 


81 


51,075 




. 374 


80 


44,092 


366 


92 


57,727 



PLANTATIONS AND TOWNSHIPS. 



Hog Island 8 6 

Long Island 188 177 

Swan Island 492 93 21.829 451 99 27,805 

No. 7 114 23 11,184 69 20 13,010 

No. 10 32 10 

No. 21 54 56 

No. 33, Mid. Div... 96 102 

No. 28 12 

No. 32 13 19 



r 



CENSUS AND VALUATION. 



535 



I860. 1870. 

Population. Polls. Estates. Population. Polls. Estates. 

Harbor Island 22 13 

Bear Island 11 13 

Bradbury Island. . 6 

Spruce Head Island 18 22 

Eagle Is! and 55 30 

Beach Island 12 9 

Butter Island 7 12 

Marshall's Island.. 6 5 

Pickering's Island. 11 3 

Eaton Island 1 

Pumkiu Island 4 

Mt. Desert Rock. . . 6 

No. 8 25 

Hackatosh Island . 6 

Wild lands 210,875 279,150 



Total 37,757 7,810 $6,520,694 36,495 8,311 $7,554,073 



KENNEBEC COUNTY. 





1,554 


342 


$304,850 


1,356 


323 


$376,791 




7,609 


1,279 


2,460,004 


7,808 


1,706 


4,881,135> 




1,592 


376 


341,044 


1,485 


374 


461,468 




1,183 


264 


175,526 


1,180 


310 


248,123? 




1,024 


200 


181,550 


1,238 


177 


184,980 




2.719 


525 


555,976 


2.118 


557 


650,58fr 




1,803 


365 


270,141 


1,766 


403 


428,812. 




896 


191 


333,359 


859 


194 


387,428> 


910 


228 


222,583 


900 


252 


282,697 




4,487 


811 


1,723,561 


4,497 


970 


2,179,243 




2,435 


552 


1,085,742 


3,007 


552 


1,222,295. 




1,702 


402 


475,149 


1,506 


383 


496,908 




813 


193 


295,792 


732 


160 


320,219^ 




. 1,854 


447 


501,989 


1,744 


403. 


592,068 




1,464 


369 


315,186 


1,252 


m 


397,034' 




2,619 


566 


619,711 


2,353 


531: 


648,353'. 




. 1,510 


336 


505,807 


1,456 


314 


589,171 




864 


180 


128,417 


725 


167 


149,731 




1782 


463 


508,912 


1,471 


355 


649,582 


Yassalborough. .. 


3,181 


669 


737.920 


2,919 


696 


1,130,348 




878 


201 


151,024 


740 


200 


200,015 




. 4,390 


870 


1,348,330 


4,852 


901 


1,904,01T 




1,194 


280 


256,032 


938- 


257 


344,692 


West Gardiner 


1,294 


275 


298,496 


1,044 


256 


359,029 




1,543 


313 


274,001 


1,266 


284 


262,212 




1,739 


363 


409,712 


1,437 


326 


470,002' 




2,338 


567 


769,018 


2,229 


575 


1,122,839* 




219 


43 


13,135 


257 


52 


28,000 


Unity plantation . 


54 


14 


10,388 


68 


17 


14,360 


Total 


55,655 


11,684 


$15,273,355 


53,203 


12,024 


$21,004,034 



KNOX COUNTY. 

Appleton 1,573 379 $253,347 1,485 347 $284,278* 

Camden 4.588 927 1,062,228 4,512 1,129 1,497,631 

Cushing '796 198 103,547 704 203 132,839 

Friendship 770 202 123,506 890 217 140,267 



536 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 







I860. 






1870. 




Population. 


Polls. 


Estates.- 


Population. 


Polls. 


Estates. 


Hope 


1,064 


001 


0/i1 (\C\A 


W4 


OI 1 


OKI fl~.A 




951 


i no 


146,446 


o Jo 


1 io 


1 r,o Kl l 






1,752 


2,614,861 


7,074 


1,9S9 


3,419,355 


South Thomaston. 


1,613 
2,716 


324 


343,462 


1,693 


379 


408,145 




553 


343,152 


2,318 


527 


403,342 






656 


2,053,573 


3.092 


620 


1,854,110 




1,957 


481 


510.737 


1.701 


432 


533,660 




1,667 


324 


198.803 


1.851 


402 


264.960 




2,321 


653 


9C9,254 


1,974 


494 


834,610 




1,662 


349 


270,616 


1,270 


329 


289,857 


Martinicus Isle pi. 


55 


17,539 
20,659 


277 


58 


19,585 


Muscle Ridge pi . . . 


183 


94 


203 


94 


20,659 




32,716 


7,271 


19,212,824 


30,823 


7,009 


$10,507,542 



LINCOLN COUNTY. 





805 


231 


$223,310 


747 


199 


$233,010 


Boothbay 


2,857 


577 


403.933 


3,200 


726 


642,819 




907 


168 


122,966 


797 


202 


162,437 






686 


422.580 


2,916 


683 


48S.116 




1,366 


294 


601,198 


1,232 


273 


009,719 




1,247 


321 


328,474 


990 


248 


310,717 




1.112 


231 


179,225 


1,056 


230 


202,428 




2,121 


474 


404,908 


1.-21 


416 


420,003 


Newcastle 


1,791 


414 


648,991 


1,729 


352 


G97,981 




1,438 


294 


261,745 
65,047 


1,150 


282 


287,807 




606 , 


117 


505 


110 


86,085 


Southport 


708 


143 


130,455 
1,010,447 


684 


165 


149,200 


Wakloborough 


4,568 


997 


4,174 


1,076 


1,104,382 




798 


154 


150,(564 


699 


176 


180,392 


Whitefield 


1,883 


418 


392,809 


1,594 


356 


441,346 
689,554 


Wiscasset 


2,318 


562 


806,749 


1,977 


406 


Marsh Island 




20 




Muscongus Island. 








142 






Monhegau Island. . 




46 


23,740 


145 


42 


24,345 




27,800 


6,127 


86,177,241 


25,597 


0,002 


$6,857,010 



OXFORD COUNTY. 





... 813 


184 


$140,847 


651 


156 


$167,592 




... 814 


164 


91,153 


757 


181 


114.712 


Bethel 


. .. 2,523 


579 


580,330 


2,286 


533 


712,871 
249,166 




. .. 1,398 
.. 1,705 


328 


237.713 


1.321 


328 




415 


504,794 


1,494 


428 


554.673 




.. 323 


59 


32,241 


242 


64 


42.195 




, . 1.025 


247 


221,361 


984 


299 


395,993 




1.171 


253 


200,566 


1,069 


279 


2S0,316 


Dixfield 


... 1,181 


242 


219,664 


1.049 
1,507 


264 


273!352 




1,623 
.. 347 


440 


550,593 


388 


670,383 


Gilead 


76 


63,484 


329 


76 


74,940 




.. Ill 


32 


23,298 


94 


33 


26,675 




.. 878 


220 


119,410 


845 


201 


163.974 




. . . 257 


60 


45,702 


188 


66 


58,280 




. 1,150 


254 


259.913 


996 


318 


419,624 




, . 895 


207 


218.566 


744 


165 


222.180 




... 1,283 


293 


240,158 


1,393 


352 


300,170 



CENSUS AND VALUATION. 



537 



I860. 1870. 



Population. Polls. Estates. Population. Polls. Estates. 





1,339 


291 


272,854 


1,018 


271 


305,764 




136 


33 


21,847 


127 


34 


30,004 




671 


108 


84,722 


458 


116 


92,539 




474 


108 


87,63S 


416 


105 


116,894 




1,982 


446 


540,355 


1,954 


489 


6-11,644 




1,281 


289 


305.268 


1,031 


340 


514,049 




2,827 


638 


803,564 


2,765 


614 


977,975 




1,121 


243 


199,656 


931 


243 


272,864 


Porter 


1,240 


270 


186,204 


1,104 


275 


275,469 


Roxburv 


251 


56 


43,045 


162 


46 


48,856 




1,375 


290 


285,018 


1,212 


286 


380,854 


Stow 


551 


113 


73,469 


427 


118 


104,018 




463 


103 


50,045 


425 


97 


70,250 




1,154 


246 


251,329 


1,170 


295 


382,463 




728 


173 


195,920 


549 


145 


176,952 




219 


51 


34,308 


187 


51 


36,278 


Waterford 


1,407 


343 


351,189 


1,286 


333 


403,651 




1,025 


261 


169,902 


995 


261 


204,907 




PLANTATIONS 


ANT) TOWNSHIPS. 






Andover 1ST. Surpl 


US 66 






38 






Andover W. Surpl 


US 






4 








316 


73 


26,420 


178 


51 


35,487 


Fryeb'g Acad. Gr' 


t. 38 






38 






Hamlin's Grant. . 


79 


24 


17,685 


95 


20 


13,444 




76 






30 


8 


21,336 




271 


54 


28,222 


258 


01 


A 1 070 
41, £i IZ 




42 


20 


5,014 


32 








77 






45 








24 






3 






TXT! I ,1 lnri/ln 

Wild lands 






50,700 






1 no i fin 




36,698 


8,286 


$7,834,162 


33,488 


8,o90 


dsn on i i cza 
!py,oyi;, 100 






PENOBSCOT COUNTY. 








531 


127 


$58,184 


508 


127 


$116,362 


Argyle 


. 379 


• 87 


38,718 


307 


85 


51,502 




.16,407 


2,964 


6,015,601 


18,289 


3,252 


10,036,561 


Bradford 


1,558 


314 


186,107 


1,487 


359 


233,734 




844 


182 


116,300 


866 


210 


158,166 




. 2,835 


564 


562,499 


3,214 


634 


669,867 




. 578 


118 


64,734 


553 


120 


91,507 




. 1,271 


300 


188,235 


1,348 


336 


260,118 




470 


102 


54,513 


632 


143 


103,498 




. 1,430 


308 


213,465 


1,191 


330 


290,279 




. 318 


73 


27,902 


350 


75 


47 103 


Clifton 


. 307 


66 


36,529 


348 


88 


5S'752 




. 1,597 


374 


233,711 


1,513 


443 


391,711 




. 1,790 


390 


313,S70 


1,462 


377 


432,970 




. 2,363 


403 


465,023 


2,875 


611 


1,006,966 




. 1,442 


332 


227,641 


1,309 


330 


266,028 




. 856 


194 


123,704 


776 


220 


165,235 




48 


17 


13,713 


55 


13 


19,436 


Enfield 


. 526 


101 


47,886 


545 


120 


90,204 




. 849 


196 


102,913 


844 


185 


154,339 




. 1,783 


375 


303,839 


1,424 


348 


377,007 




. 1,498 


327 


212,531 


1,306 


316 


312,263 



538 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 







1860. 






1870. 




Population. 


Polls. 


Estates. 


Population. 


Polls. 


Estates. 




<-*l 


171 


115,453 


720 


166 


143,313 




OOO 


141 


62,813 


621 


151 


129,718 




oov 


78 


41,061 


317 


77 


52,500 


XT O wYt r\r1 on 


Q AOS 


651 


587,718 


3,068 


674 


739,339 




1 AQQ 


315 


197,120 


1,489 


342 


294,189 


TTnlflon 


QA- 

ooo 


180 


168,938 


758 


185 


193,561 




1 7A 


46 


34,629 


176 


41 


40,665 


TTn rl cnn 


771 


159 


70,360 


739 


152 


101,497 


XT*!* n fl 1 1 o Iro Q <Y 


olO 


184 


119,744 


770 


195 


171,230 


IS i y\ crm o Ti 








185 


16 


30,677 




OWO 


140 


95,835 


622 


171 


154,425 






231 


100,353 


960 


239 


139,343 


T .Dironf 


1 Q01 
l,OUl 


273 


184,851 


1,159 


269 


277,449 




1 fi31 
1,001 


344 


290,455 


1,530 


389 


343,177 




r -.1 
001 


127 


64,383 


448 


109 


72,126 


Tvl Q tf*1 wqtti ct 

x'J. (ILlflW d 1 1 1 K . • • 


OQA 


65 


25,000 


356 


63 


76,779 




1 no 
10^ 


47 


17,568 


156 


32 


20,673 


ATJ 1 £r*T*/l 


7i_l 
1 -t-t 


155 


151,241 


827 


182 


178,614 










262 


72 


22,025 


Newburg 


1 

l,oOO 


294 


170,483 


1,115 


286 


237,964 




1,403 


355 


250,534 


1,559 


394 


540,927 






623 


556,903 


4.529 


713 


684,308 




2,533 


442 


343,069 


2,888 


566 


523,888 




1,950 


440 


355,442 


1,768 


442 


400,839 


Passadumkeag . . . 


360 


77 


26,011 


243 


73 


30,738 




639 


142 


126,711 


704 


153 


191,342 




989 


220 


143,875 


941 


279 


1S8,350 




226 


56 


27,165 


387 


75 


54,385 




854 


186 


84,228 


879 


199 


122,230 




913 


195 


100,127 


937 


214 


262,735 




893 


146 


139,992 


810 


193 


168,432 




253 


41 


25,057 


714 


248 


95,708 




PLANTATIONS 


AND TOWNSHIPS. 














85 






ilXtlLlellllloCUIl LI?. • • 


31 






51 














321 


76 


30,637 


Pq ff q rrn m r\n c 


105 






94 


20 


5,171 










28 


9 


24,727 




230 






170 


32 


30,196 


No. 1 








66 






No. 2 








100 






"Whitney Ridge. . . 


17 






18 














108 


30 


43,990 










138 














13 






Township A. R. 7. 








19 






No. 2, Range 6 . . . 








61 






No. 2, Range 9 . . . 








14 






No. 3, Range 1 . . . 








25 














1,287 












170,600 






546,415 



Total 72,731 14,438 $14,521,437 75,150 16,149 $22,697,948 



PI&CATAQUTS COUNTY. 

Abbot 796 180 $113,902 712 181 $155,197 

Atkinson 897 206 133.166 810 193 234,271 



CENSUS AND VALUATION. 



539 



I860. 1870. 

Population. Polls. Estates. Population. Polls. Estates. 

Barnard 172 39 14,869 149 41 - 28,753 

Blanchard 164 36 23,292 164 38 33,142 

Brownville 793 180 105,097 860 209 157,626 

Dover 1,970 389 415,677 1,983 457 675,000 

Foxcroft 1,102 245 221,578 1,178 262 400,109 

Guilford 837 199 140,863 818 222 213,091 

Greenville 310 76 44,402 369 100 66,707 

Kingsbury 191 43 22,373 174 52 27,327 

Medford 353 71 36,751 294 77 60,321 

Monson 708 184 113,960 614 168 134,520 

Milo 959 205 125,441 930 202 161,855 

Orneville 512 99 68,069 575 116 80,062 

Parkman 1,166 303 204,164 1,105 271 259,304 

Sangerville 1,314 294 245,568 1,140 270 316,590 

Sebec 1,152 237 142,328 954 238 190,407 

Shirlev 282 59 33,963 206 57 56,220 

Wellington 694 147 95,724 681 157 * 119,269 

Williamsburg.... 182 38 19,020 176 44 29,909 



Katahdin Iron W ks 
No. 4, Range 4 . . . 

Bowerbank 101 

Elliotsville 59 

No. 8, R. 8 75 

All north of Elliots- 
ville, Greenville, 
and Shirley . . . 
Wild lands 

Total .......15,032 



PLANTATIONS AND TOWNSHIPS. 

35 
5 



10,446 



374,575 



42 
173 



175 



15,000 



1,442,600 



3,266 $2,705,228 14,403 3,355 $4,857,280 



SAGADAHOC COUNTY. 



Arrowsic 347 

Bath 8,076 

Bowdoinham 2,346 

Bowdoin 1,744 

Georgetown 1,254 

Perkins 95 

Phipsburg 1,770 

Richmond 2,739 

Topsham 1,705 

West Bath 400 

Woolwich 1,317 

Total 21,790 



87 
1,720 
437 
359 
255 

21 
349 
590 
345 

93 
304 



$97,224 



252 



76 



5,876,993 7,371 1,915 



607,858 
360,393 
189,554 
47,955 
536,487 
891,224 
810,623 
105,351 
530,772 



1,804 
1,345 
1,135 
71 
1,344 
2,442 
1,498 
373 
1,168 



437 
328 
249 

19 
379 
550 
365 

90 
261 



$102,951 
6,393,876 
645,531 
405,990 
183,500 
36,741 
426,714 
1,240,327 
• 879,051 
129,833 
596,826 



4,560 $10,054,434 18,803 4,669 $11,041,340 



SOMERSET COUNTY. 



Anson 2,000 386 $449,911 1,745 414 $554,407 

Athens 1,417 293 273,026 1,540 338 428,069 

Bingham 831 159 120,360 826 210 201,017 

Brighton 733 154 56,589 627 139 91,727 

Cambridge 516 112 77,488 472 119 109,182 

Canaan 1,715 359 273,654 1,472 361 346,395 

Concord 540 120 69,179 452 107 91,594 



540 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



1860. 

Population. Polls. Estates. Population. 

Cornville 1,141 265 254,817 »59 

Detroit 659 147 85,874 690 

Embden 1,041 205 157,246 803 

Fairfield 2,753 598 674,890 2,998 

Harmony 1,081 245 158,007 978 

Hartland 1,050 218 153,777 1,120 

Lexington 495 114 54,723 397 

Madison 1,615 361 423,520 1,401 

Mayfield 118 28 9,315 96 

Mercer 1,059 251 209,040 846 

Moscow 574 140 61,702 528 

New Portland ... . 1,554 351 320,396 1,454 

Norridgewock. . . . 1,898 384 449,743 1,756 

Palmyra 1,596 317 232,731 1,322 

Pittsf'ield 1,495 326 270,495 1,813 

Ripley 655 131 75,794 584 

St. Albans 1,808 372 281,044 1,675 

Solon 1,345 301 245,306 1,176 

Skowhegan 2,266 702 1,060,527 3,893 

Smithfield 793 151 112,300 704 

Starks 1,340 317 261,430 1,083 

PLANTATIONS AND TOWNSHIPS. 

Dead River 117 100 

Flag Staff 119 112 

Moose River 135 104 

West Forks 73 

The Forks 163 159 

Carratnnk 214 

Jackmantown .... 65 

Pleasant Ridge. . . 159 135 

No. 1, Range 7. . . 6 

No. 5, Range 3.... 8 16 

No. 2, Range 2.... 128 

Parlin Pond 13 11 

Sand Bar 16 15 

Bowtown 26 14 

Horeb 1 

Bald Mountain ... 8 

Atlean 1 

Birch Point 2 

Dennis 37 

Wild lands $264,020 



1870. 

Polls. 
261 
183 
181 
690 
245 
268 
102 
367 
23 
241 
127 
361 
419 
335 
429 
158 
394 
306 
881 
161 
280 



20 
20 



23 



Estates. 
328,749 
141,731 
207,793 

1,188,383 
190,606 
264,180 
77,897 
510,437 
9,309 
300,670 
91,836 
400,590 
641,982 
347,097 
518,515 
116,705 
430,233 
331,919 

1,581,610 
168,599 
2S1.614 



$38,420 
34,750 



22,143 



942,450 



Total. 



.36,753 7,507 $7,136,994 34,611 8,169 $10,990,609 



WALDO COUNTY. 



Belfast 5,520 1,310 $1,802,307 5,278 1,363 $2,660,879 

Belmont 686 160 93,216 628 144 101,708 

Brooks 988 200 158,278 868 205 200,176 

Burnham 857 165 129,654 788 166 175,007 

Frankfort 2,143 290 214,044 1,152 323 220,646 

Freedom 849 205 159,284 716 200 191,505 

Islesborough 1,276 266 148,271 1,230 273 153,703 

Jackson 827 196 162,849 707 188 176,604 

Knox.. 1,074 236 189,421 889 218 218,392 

Liberty 1,095 241 135,149 907 209 193,819 

Lincolnville 2,075 428 396,781 1,900 466 364,956 

Monroe 1,703 375 249,686 1,375 330 326,835 



CENSUS AND VALUATION. 



541 



8,428 $10,090,581 



1860. 1870. 

Population. Polls. Estates. Population. Polls. Estates. 

Montvilla 1,682 367 357,652 1,467 324 389,945 

Morrill 629 142 100,540 523 172 133,099 

Northport 1,178 281 188,150 902 236 180,726 

Palermo 1,372 293 184,394 1,223 297 241,433 

Prospect 1,005 215 139,9S0 886 206 184,492 

Searsmont 1,657 352 264,813 1,418 349 300,418 

Searsport 2,532 533 797,601 2,282 527 1,036,823 

Stockton 1,595 356 425,769 2,089 535 800,220 

Swanville 914 193 116,691 770 190 140,050 

Thorndike 958 214 186,728 730 199 264,801 

Troy 1,403 332 226.859 1,201 260 233,361 

Unity 1,320 304 297,564 1,201 275 384,465 

Waldo 728 148 127,705 648 149 144,218 

Winterport 2,381 641 502,343 2,744 624 600,300 

Total 38,447 8,443 $7,740,729 34,522 

WASHINGTON COUNTY. 

Addison 1,272 297 $217,379 1,201 307 $263,457 

Alexander 445 96 54,154 456 95 73,997 

Baileyville 363 75 50.264 377 64 53,641 

Baring 409 80 60,935 364 88 96,169 

Beddington 144 31 27,022 134 25 32,034 

Calais 5,621 992 1,170,338 5,944 1,099 1,523,452 

Centerville 191 43 38,556 145 36 42,091 

Charlotte 611 - 124 70,458 467 105 66,938 

Cherryfield 1,755 405 355,437 1,764 370 434,483 

Columbia 1,265 161 111.163 668 164 127,899 

Columbia Falls. . . 135 . 138,0S1 608 133 176,802 

Cooper 468 91 39,272 360 84 34.809 

Crawford 273 58 28,883 209 54 30,351 

Cutler 890 1S6 83,000 925 211 110,189 

Danforth 283 313 61 50,696 

Deblois 131 29 16,086 139 23 18,010 

Denneysville 485 103 149,586 488 99 199,319 

EastMachias 2,179 393 481,877 2,017 381 581,547 

Eastport 3,850 742 897,898 3,736 722 901,686 

Eaton 81 

Edmunds 444 88 80,204 448 79 86,418 

Harrington 1,130 262 247,133 1,142 283 249,203 

Jonesborougb.... 518 129 61,074 522 119 86,990 

Jonesport 1,148 222 105,753 1,305 259 156,388 

Lubec 2,555 564 257,739 2,136 498 309,406 

Macbias 2,256 417 674,124 2,525 561 978,135 

Macbiasport 1,502 269 155,939 1,526 300 197,221 

Marion 203 38 33,720 213 46 29,976 

Marsbfield 328 62 60,320 350 73 71,356 

Meddvbemps 297 67 24,458 200 50 24,080 

Milbridge 1,282 326 206,359 1,558 368 299,747 

Northfield 261 55 41,450 190 55 52.947 

Pembroke 2,299 439 304,087 2,551 573 388,233 

Perry... 1,194 ' 261 187,126 1,149 267 205,592 

Princeton 626 141 115,956 1,072 217 180,507 

Kobbinston 1,113 200 124,632 926 195 127,030 

Steuben 1,191 264 161,677 1,062 270 186,528 

Topsfield 444 98 85,595 463 105 82,828 

Trescott 715 118 51,969 603 110 42,980 

Wesley 343 71 36,202 336 72 63,829 

Whiting 479 91 64,461 414 82 74,629 

Whitneyville 579 119 87,023 569 113 111,264 



542 



THE HISTORY OF MAINE. 



PLANTATIONS AND TOWNSHIPS. 

1860. 1870. 

Population. Polls. Estates. Population. Polls. Estates. 

Codyville 63 62 18 27,919 

Jackson Brook. .. 93 206 40,000 

Talmadge 96 80 25 29,512 

Waite 95 122 32 28,700 

No. 7, R. 2 119 27 20,645 

No. 9, Range 4. . . 69 71 40,000 

No. 14, EastDiv.. 190 149 31 15,000 

No. 18, East Div. . 42 

No. 21 85 168 34 20,255 

Vanceborough ... 327 40,000 

No. 1 246 

No. 19, E. Div. ... 20 

No. 26 11 8 

Dyer 24 

Hinckley 19 

Indian 14 

Robbins 4 

Devcreaux 8 

Wild lands 501,145 517,150 



Total 42,534 8,342 $7,658,945 43,343 8,983 $9,566,038 



YORK COUNTY. 





. 1,218 


255 


$277,816 


1,008 


270 


$327,189 


Alfred 


. 1,256 


307 


381,024 


1,224 


297 


427,140 




2,155 


408 


483,447 


2,291 


431 


641,329 




9,349 


1,615 


4,593,047 


10,282 


2,205 


5,682,402 




2,853 


645 


686,353 


2,546 


631 


829,899 




1,153 


267 


268,405 


1,100 


257 


310,678 




701 


180 


199,478 


611 


164 


242,043 


Elliot 


1,767 


396 


460,438 


1,769 


399 


535,962 


Hollis 


. 1,683 


379 


348,599 


1,541 


424 


444,428 




. 2,679 


637 


1,559,902 


2,603 


610 


1,577,504 


Kennebunkport . 


. 3,008 


629 


890,229 


2,372 


622 


901,431 




. 2,974 


582 


363,327 


3,333 


727 


622,523 




2,040 


460 


489,674 


1,953 


396 


524,575 




1,441 


268 


282,339 


1,425 


307 


392,637 




. 2,004 


436 


468,228 


1,630 


420 


567,808 




1,307 


286 


269,853 


1,052 


269 


345,346 




. 1,349 


287 


252,839 


1,193 


273 


298,895 


North Berwick . . 


. 1,492 


346 


398,112 


1,623 


357 


572,927 




2,125 


485 


551,465 


1,894 


454 


632,097 




6,223 


1,173 


2,991,564 


5,755 


1,349 


3,116,374 




. 1,273 


318 


216,372 


1,087 


271 


251,118 




, 2,221 


526 


447,061 


2,397 


526 


560,542 


South Berwick . . 


. 2,624 


501 


676,387 


2,510 


532 


818,022 


Waterborough. . . 


. 1,824 


386 


286,440 


1,548 


388 


364,270 


Wells 


. 2,878 


652 


591,001 


2,773 


639 


683,940 


York 


, 2,825 


614 


702,218 


2,654 


614 


771,776 


Isle of Shoals . . . 


25 













Total 62,107 13,038 $19,135,618 60,174 13,834 $22,442,875 



TOTAL. 

1860. 1870. 

Population. Polls. Estates. Population. Polls. Estates. 

628,279 127,899 $162,158,581 626,915 143,195 $219,666,504 

Valuation of wild lands 1870, $5,156,356. Total valuation, $224,822,860. 



INDEX. 



INDEX. 



Abenaquis tribes, Losses of the, 334. 
Academies established, 420. 

Acadia, a name for French possessions in America, 69. 
Adventure on the St. George River, 307. 
Agamenticus, Colony at, 90. 
Aix-la-Chapelle, Influence of the treaty of, 350. 
Ambereuse, Character of the sagamore, 335. 
Ambuscades, Success of the Indian, 182. 
Ambush, Lieut. Clark leads his troops into, 227. 
America discovered by Northmen, 14. 

Ames, Adelbert, Gen., in command of the Maine Twentieth, 486. 
Ancient dominions of Maine, 290, 

Andros, Sir Edmund, his success with the Indians, 207 ; his general unpopu- 
larity and subsequent fate, 218. 
Anecdotes of Capt. Lovett, 88; of Simon the sagamore (note), 203. 
Annapolis, Port Royal changed to, 32. 
Appledore, The cairn on the summit of, 449. 

Argal, Capt. Samuel, visits Monhegan, 74; attacks Port Royal, 78. 

Armistice, Reasons for the failure of the, 184. 

Arnold, Benedict, his suffering march to Quebec, 381, 382. 

Aroostook, New troubles at, 433; Swedish colony at, 438; attractions of, 467. 

Aroostook war, Description of, 430. 

Arrowsic, Settlement made at, 89; English fired upon at, 203; conference at, 
291. 

Assacombuit, an Indian chief ; his havoc among the English, 271. 
Ashburton treaty, Ratification of the, 435. 
Atrocities and cruelties, 273. 
Augusta, Description of, 412. 

<t 

Bagaduce, a trading post on the Penobscot, 94. 
Bagnall, Walter, his deeds and fate, 98. 

Bangor, Origin of the name, 401 ; losses to, from the British soldiery, 422. 

Barrie, Capt., Insulting words of, 422. 

Barhaba, the, Generous conduct of, 64 ; influence of, 173. 

Bath, Its incorporation and importance, 390, 392, 

Batteries of light artillery, 480-482. 

645 



546 



INDEX. 



Battery, the Sixth Mounted, Exploits and sufferings of, 483; the Seventh 

Mounted, its good service, 401. 
Beal, George L., Colonel of Maine Tenth, 474. 
Belcher, Gov. Jonathan, Acts and character of, 340. 
Belfast, The British plunder, 421 ; its appearance from the river, 456. . 
Bernard, Sir Francis, unpopularity of, 360. 
Berry, Hiram G., his services and death, 470. 
Berwick, Attack upon, by Hopegood, 226 ; incorporation of, 288. 
Beard, M., A French missionary, 72. 
Biarne, Adventures of the Northmen, 14. 
Biencourt, a cruel Frenchman, 70. 
Bigot, Yincent and Jacques, Catholic missionaries, 171. 
Black Point, Settlement at, 105; battle at, 204. 
Bomaseen, a sachem of the Canibas tribe, 243 ; speech of, 257. 
Bonython, M., warned of danger by an Indian, 175. 
Boundary of the Massachusetts colony defined, 126. 
Bourne, Hon. Edward E., Remarks of, 205. 
Bowdoin, Dr. Peter, 361. 

Bowdoin, James, elected governor of Maine, 398; ancestors of, 403. 
Boxer, The, and the Enterprise, 417. 

Bradford, Gov., his account of Gilling's attack upon Castine, 103. 

Breda, Treaty of, concluded, 156. 

Breton, Cape, Dispute concerning, 295. 

British regulars at Concord, their sufferings, 372. 

British vengeance at Falmouth, 372 ; and barbarity, 378, 390. 

British expeditions in Maine, 421. 

British claims in Maine, 431. 

Brooks, Governor of Massachusetts, His speech, 425. 
Brown, John, Purchase of, 122. 

Brunswick, Conference at, 251 ; location of, 289 ; re-settlement of, 339 ; incor- 
poration of, 34|; important convention at, 424. 
Burgoyne's surrender, Consequences of, 387. 
Burneffe, Mons., leads the attack on the garrison at Wells, 236. 
Burnet, Gov. William, Appearance and character of, 339. 
Burnside, Gen., Testimony of, to the valor of Maine soldiers, 485. 

Cabot, John, The voyages of, 21. 

Cabot, Sebastian, Explorations of, 22, 23. 

Canada, Preparations in England for the conquest of, 156 ; failure of the expe- 
dition against, 282. 
Canseau, the French and Indians attack, 345. 
Cape Breton, Dispute respecting, 295. 
Cape Cod discovered by Leif , a Northman,*14. 
Cargill, Capt. James, Brutality of, 356. 
Carr, Sir Bobert, Character of, 150. 

Cartwright, George, his character, and his plans frustrated, 150. 
Casco, Attack upon, and siege of the fort at, 262, 263. 
'Casco Neck, Sufferings at, 1 89. 

■Castine, The colony at, plundered, 94 ; battle at the port of, 389 ; the British 
obtain possession of, 421 ; gay life of the British at, 423. 



INDEX. 



547 



Castine, St., Baron, History of, 157; plunder of the home of, 216. 

Castine the younger, Outrageous treatment of, 260; his journey to Canada, 

278, 279 ; tribute to the character of, 287. 
Causes of sickness among troops sent South, 491. 
Cavalry, First Maine Regiment of, 479 ; Second Eegiment, 490. 
Cemetery Hill, Terrible contest at, 494. 

Chamberlain, Gov. Joshua L., his interest in the Swedish colony, 437, 444 ; he 

receives the surrender of Gen. Lee, 495. 
Charles II., Royal missive and plans of, 147; decree of, 151; letter of, 152; 

death of, 212. 
Charlevoix, Pere de, Account of, 315. 
Charter of the Plymouth Council surrendered, 100. 
Charter granted to Bowdoin College, 403. 
Chubb, Capt., Consequences of the conscious guilt of, 246. 
Chatham, Lord, Words of, in Parliament, 389. 

Church, Capt. Benjamin, his success at Brunswick, 225; his exploit at Pejeps- 
cot fort, 230; his expedition to the Bay of Fundy, 247; to Passama- 
quoddy Bay, 268; his cruelty, 269. 

Claims, Conflicting, of France and England, 123. 

Cleaves, George, appointed administrator by Gorges, 110 ; petition of, 153. 
Clergymen of Kittery, 288. 

Coburn, Gov. Abner, Rebel flags captured by Maine soldiers sent to, 474 

Cochran, Capture of, and escape, 318. 

Colonial charter annulled, the consequences, 214 

Colonists, Improvidence of the, at Sagadahoc, 64; their condition, 68; conten- 
tions among, 129. 
Commercial intercourse with the French and Dutch prohibited, 132. 
Commock, Capt. Thomas, Grant to, 105. 
Concord, Reception of British troops at, 371. 
Conduct of Col. Dungan's commissioners, 215. 
Confederacy, The, of the colonies, its object, 109. 
Conflicts between the Northmen and Americans, 18. 

Conventions held respecting separation of Maine from Massachusetts, 398, 3-99, 
424. 

Converse, Capt., Bravery of, 237 ; heroic words of, 238. 
Cornwall, Organization of the county of, 154 
Cortereal, Gaspar, Villany of, 24 
Coulson, Samuel, Dislike of the people to, 374 

Cromwell, Oliver, the New Haven colony send to him for aid, 130; his meas- 
ures, 132 ; his reasons for attacking Nova Scotia, 133. 

Dalling, John, Leasehold of, 215. 

D'Aulney, Capt., destroys a Penobscot settlement, 102; attacks De La Tour, 
112; arrests three English gentlemen, 115; assails and captures the fort 
of La Tour, 119. 

Damariscotta Islands, Fisheries at, 86. 

Danforth, President, his difficulties, 209. 

Deane, Rev. Samuel, his opinion of Mowatt (note), 380. 

Defences of the coast of Maine, 385. 



548 



INDEX. 



De Monts, Patent issued to, by Henry IV., 31 ; his suffering winter, 32. 

Depredations and cruelties, 266, 307. 

Differences between tbe French and English, 156. 

Dispute between the. general court and the commissioners of Charles the 
Second, 151. 

Dorr, Ebenezer, carries important despatches (note), 368. 
Dow, Col. Neal, Imprisonment of, 477. 

Dudley, Gov., his interview with the sagamores at Portland, 256; his over- 
bearing conduct, 292. 
" Dummer Treaty " signed, 332; its provisions not complied with, 346. 
Dummer, Gov. William, Character of, 334. 
Dungan, Col. Thomas, Character of, 214 
Dutch, The, instigate the savages against the English, 130. 

Eastern provinces, The desolation of, 289. 

Eastport, The British attack and take possession of, 421. 

Edgecombe, Sir Richard, Grant to, 106. 

Edifiantes et Curieuses Lettres, Extracts from, 294 (note), 311. 

Emigration, Causes of, 106. 

England, why she claimed American soil, 23. 

English, Reasons for Indian hatred of the, 43, 258, 259; perfidy of, 193. 

English, Cruelties of, 329; desires of, relative to Canada, 281. 

English government, Aggressions of the, 365. 

Epenow, an Indian chief, Gorges describes, 75 ; his escape, 78. 

Erik, Bishop, visits Vineland, 19. 

Etiquette of the Indians, 63. 

Explorations by a party at Sagadahock, 57, 58. , 

Extract from Coolidge and Mansfield, 298. 

Falmouth, Conferences at, 332, 341, 350 ; resolute measures adopted by the 
citizens of, 373, 374 ; heroism of the people, 379 ; the attack UDon and 
destruction of, 380. 

Farmington on the Sandy River, 304 ; its seminaries of learning, 405. 

Fessenden, Francis, Colonel of the Twenty-Fifth Maine, 487. 

Fifth Regiment Maine Infantry, Exploits of, 471. 

Fillebrown, James S., Lieut.-Colonel Maine Tenth, 474. 

First District of Columbia Cavalry, Maine contributes to, 491. 

Fort St. George, Attempt to surprise, 300 ; its strength, 308 ; meeting of com- 
missioners at, 331 ; attack upon, 358. 

Fort Hill, Capt. Heath destroys a village at, 328. 

Fort Richmond (note), 294. 

France, Discoveries of, in America, 24 ; obtains Canada, 69. 

France, New, Name of French possessions in North America, 102. 

France and England contend for the colonies, 353. 

Frost, Major, Cruel conduct of, 201. 

Frye, Jonathan, Chaplain, his character and death, 324 

Fryeburg, Incorporation of, 385. 

Gardiner, Origin of the wealth and prosperity of, 414 



INDEX. 



549 



George's Islands, The, 53. 

General Court of Massachusetts, Oppressive measures of, 175; fits out an 

expedition against Kennebec Indians, 199; retaliation of, 356. 
Gettysburg, Contest at, 493. 

Gilbert Raleigh, Capt., 48; his discoveries, 56; his efforts to conciliate the 

savages, 67. 
Girling, Capt., Unsuccessful attempt of, 102. 

Godfrey, Edward, re-elected governor at Wells, 121; his character, 122; 

remonstrance of, 124 ; surrender of, 126. 
Goldthwaite, John, commander of Veteran Artillery, 492. 

Gorges, Sir Ferdinando, Character of, 45; his efforts to found anew colony, 
72 ; his account of the escape of Epenow, 78, 79 ; new patent granted to, 
its extent, 85; testimony of, 100; his new appointment, 101; a new 
grant obtained by, 105 ; Charles II. confers new privileges upon, 106 ; he 
organizes a city, 108; returns to England, 109; his death, 111. 

Gorges, Thomas, his character and position, 107 ; letter of, 112. 

Gorges, William, Character of, 104. 

Gorges, Ferdinando, grandson of Sir Ferdinando, his conduct, 145. 

Gosnold, Bartholomew, 30. 

Governor of Canada invites a council, 297. 

Government, British, The alarm of, 33. 

Government of the Province of Maine, 209. 

Greenland discovered, 13. 

Guercheville, Madame de, Failure of the enterprise of, 76, 77* 
Gudrida, a Finnish lady, her character, 16. 

Halifax Fort, its location and strength, 354. 

Hampden, Losses in the conflict at, 421. 

Harmon, John, Valorous conduct of, 301. 

Harlow, Capt. Edward, Villany of, 74. 

Harps well located, 389; incorporated, 358. 

Hill, Lieut, Anecdote of, 479. 

Hilton, Col., attacks Norridgewock, 270. 

Hitchcock, Rev. R. D., Address of, to Maine volunteers, 469. 

Hocking, or Hoskins, Illegal act of, 96. 

Hostages, Indian, Honor of, 326. 

Howard, Colonel O. O., commands the Third Regiment, 470; his bravery at 
Gettysburg, 494. 

Hudson, Port, Sickness, wounds, and death of Maine men at, 486. 
Hunt, Thomas, Capt., Indians captured by, 83. 
Hutchinson, Gov. Thomas, 360 ; character of, 365. 

Iceland discovered by Naddod, 13. 
Icelandic geography, 20. 

Improvements in travelling in fifty years, 427. 

Imprudence of the English, 192. 

Incident of interest, 198; at Love well's Pond, 322. 

Incorporation of towns, 362, 363, 364, 398, 399, 401, 409, 411, 412, 416, 420, 423, 
425. 



550 



INDEX. 



Indians, The, described by Verrazano, 20; as seen by "Weymouth, 35; useless 
entreaties of, 42 ; testimony of Gorges concerning, 46 ; differing opinions 
of the French and English respecting, 68, 69; different treatment of, by 
the two nations, 93; names of the tribes of, in Maine, 165, 166; homes 
of, 170; religious opinions of, 173; talent of, 174; cruelties perpetrated 
by, 176, 177, 179, 180 ; honor of, 185 ; devices of, to burn English vessels, 
238, 239; dignity of, 244; injustice of the English towards, 295; weakness 
of, 301 ; humanity of, 305 ; sufferings of, 327 ; character of, 335 ; renewed 
anxiety of, 340. 

Indians of Maine, Attitude of, towards the settlers, 384, 397; extinction of, 

425. 

Indian depredations, 183, 187, 188, 190. 

Indians, Penobscot, Williamson's testimony concerning, 358 ; their reduction 

and submission, 359. 

James I., Grant of lands by, 47. 

James EL, Duke of York, Grants to, 147; character of, 149. 
Jennings, Abraham, Monhegan purchased by, 73. 

Jocelyn, Capt. John, Extract from the journal of, 163; compelled to sur- 
render, 195. 

Kankamaugus , a friendly Pennacook sagamore, 213. 

Kennebec River, Serious trouble on the, 95 ; trading post on the, 134. 

Kennebec Indians sue for peace, 277. 

Kimball, Col. William K., Exploits of, 475. 

King Philip's war, its woes, 258. 

King, Gov. William, Sketch of, 425. 

Kittery, The town of, its extent, 110 ; the court sits at, 288. 

Kittery Point, Settlement at, 105. 

Knowles, Col., praiseworthy act in Philadelphia, 471. 

Laconia, Description of, 90. 

La Tour, Charles de la, 111; conflict on the Penobscot, 114; his treachery, 

120; suspicions of, 132 ; his character and death, 134. 
La Tour, Madame, Character of, 116 ; heroism of, US ; fate of, 119. 
La Tour, Stephen, confirmed in his possessions by Cromwell, 134. 
Laws respecting preaching, 128 ; humane, of Massachusetts, 139. 
Lee, Eobert E., his humiliation and surrender, 495. 
Leif, Adventures of, 14. 

Letter of the Governor of Canada, 296 ; of Hon. G. A. Hedlund, 443. 

Levett, Capt., His character and explorations, 88. 

Lewiston, its mercantile and literary importance, 411. 

Lexington, British soldiers sent to, 366 ; encounter at, 368. 

Longfellow, H. W., The ride of Paul Revere, by, 387. 

Loron, an Indian sachem, Remonstrance of, 333 ; speech of, 342. 

Losses by Indian wars to Maine, 286 ; to the Indians, 287. 

Louisburg, its strength, 347 ; its capture, 348. 

Lovewell, Capt., Exploits of, 317, 319. 

Loyal, Fort, how situated, 210; Capt. Davis's report of the attack upon, 228. 



INDEX. 



551 



Luxury of the settlers, Example of the, 339. 

Lygouia, A new patent for territory, called, 93 ; united to Massachusetts, 141. 
Lygonian Plantation, 105. 

Machias, Importance of, 385 ; attack upon, 386 ; incorporated, 398. 
Madawaska, Doings at, 431. 

Madockawando, Speech of, 185; notice of, by Drake (note), 201; his commu- 
nication to the council at Boston, 220 ; his death, 251. 
Maiden heroism, 180. 

Maine, Beauty of the coast of, 41 ; reasons for the name, 107 ; confusion in 
the affairs of, 158; returns to the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, 160; 
purchase of the province of, 208 ; poverty of the people of, 253 ; losses 
of the inhabitants, 335 ; renewed prosperity of, 340 ; patriotism in the 
Revolution, 373; her lakes and mountains, 458-467 ; her sacrifices in 
the civil war, 468-498; exports of, 501; crops of, 502; various indus- 
tries of, 503 ; manufacturing resources of, 504. 

Maine, Fourteenth Regiment, their labors and hardships, 477. 

Maine General Hospital, 527. 

Maine Regiments, Character of the men of the, 484. 
Manatahqua, "Wanton murder of, 99. 
Maquoit, Fort erected at, 137. 

March, Major, at Damariscotta, 250 ; his loss at Casco, 264. 

Martha's Vineyard, Last battle at, 79. 

Massacre at Norridgewock, 313. 

Massachusetts laws, Value of, 137. 

Masse, M., a French missionary, 72. 

Maverick, Samuel, Self-sufficiency of, 151. 

McClellan, Gen. Geo. B., his tribute to the Seventh Regiment, 472. 
McGilvery, Copt. Freeman, Testimony of Gen. Augur to the gallantry of, 483. 
McKeen, Rev. Joseph, D.D., 404. 
Memorial presented to Cromwell, 142. 
Meteorological record for fifty years in Maine, 501. 

Misunderstanding between Capt. Gilbert and Sebenoa, an Indian chief, 59-61; 

fatal effects of, at Brunswick, 199. 
Missionaries, Catholic, Faults and excellencies of, 242 ; intolerance towards, 256.' 
Mohawks, Consequences of the enlistment of, 202. 
Monhegan, Discovery of, by Weymouth, 33 ; quaint description of, 73. 
Mortality of the Fifteenth Regiment, 477. 
Moulton, Capt., sent to Norridgewock ; his humanity, 306. 
Mountains of Maine, 498, 499. 
Mount Desert, its size and beauty, 71, 456. 
Mowatt, Capt., Orders received by, 378; his conduct, 379. 
Mugg, an Indian chieftain, 195 ; he negotiates a treaty, 196 ; boastful remark; 

of, 198 ; death of, 204. 

jSTaeset, name given to Cape Cod, 14. . 

Nahanada, his interview with Skitwarroes, 50 ; his fears, 51. 
Narragansett Bay entered by Verrazano, 26. 
Narrow and intolerant religious views, 138. 



552 



INDEX. 



Neal, Walter, Revengeful conduct of, 98. 
Neutrality proposed by the Canadians, 273. 
Newfoundland, Discovery of the banks of, 44. 
New Meadows River, Battle at, 177. 

New Orleans, The Twenty-Eighth and Twenty-Ninth sent to, 489. 

Newport, R. L, Ruins of a Northmen tower at, 19. 

New Somersetshire, Settlements in province of, 104. 

New Sweden, where and how situated, 439 ; houses in, 439. 

Norridgewock, Mission station at, 171; attack upon, by Col. Hilton, 270; a 

new expedition against, and its failure, 304; description of the hamlet 

of, 309 ; fatal attack upon, 312, 313. 
Norridgewocks, End of the tribe of, 314. 

North-eastern boundary, Dispute respecting, 424 ; settlement of the question, 
434. 

Northmen, their home and character, 13; their barbarity, 15. 
North Yarmouth, its establishment and boundaries, 210 
Norumbega, Limits of, 28; note, 31. 
Nova Scotia ceded to England, 134, 278. 
Nichols, Col. Richard, his character, 150. 

Oath of allegiance to England required of the settlers on the Kennebec, 135. 
Official report upon Swedish immigration, 442. 
" Ohio Fever," The consequences of the, 424. 
Old Orchard, Points of interest at, 453, 454. 

Oldtown, Westbrook's official account of the expedition against, 327. 
Original patent granted to New Plymouth, 136. 
Outrageous conduct at St. George, Go. 
Outrages perpetrated by Indians, 249, 250. 

Patents granted to settlers in Maine, 290. 
Parris, Albion K., second governor of Maine, 427. 

Peace articles signei^ by the English and Dutch courts, 133 ; articles signed 
between Indians and the English at Casco, 207 ; treaty of, between Eng- 
land and America, 397. 

Pegwacket, Encounter near, 321. 

Pejepscot settlement, 105; limits of the purchase, 212; sale and boundaries 
of, 289. 

Pemaquid, Importance of, 91, 92, 105. 
Penacooks, Petition of the, 212. 

Penobscot Bay, Pring's account of, 31; Rosier' s description of, 36; conference 
at, 251. 

Perils of the Ninth Maine Regiment, 473. 
Pestilence along the coast of Maine, 84. 

Philip, King, his haughty answer to the governor of Massachusetts, 186. 
Phips, Sir William, Character and adventures of, 222; governor of Massa- 
chusetts, 240 ; tribute to the memory of, 252. 
Phipsburg, its first settlement, 54. 
Picturesque attractions of Maine, 446. 
Pinchon, Major, sent to the Mohawks, 202. 



INDEX. 



553 



Piracy, Acts of, 95. 
Piscataqua Plantation, 105. 

Plymouth Company, its character and object, 46. 
Plymouth Council, Provinces of the, 100. 
Plymouth Rock, Landing of the Pilgrims at, 85. 
Pond Town Plantation, why so called, 363. 
Popham, Sir Francis, engages in fisheries, 69. 

Popham, George, Character of, 48 ; he ascends the river Sagadahock, 54 ; cho- 
sen governor of Sagadahock, 55; his death, 65. 
Popham, Lord John, his rank and influence, 48. 
Population of Maine and of New England, 164. 
Portland, Barbaric display at, 256 ; beauty of the city of, 446. 
Port Royal found impregnable, and the siege abandoned, 275. 
Poutrincourt, his brutality, 70. 
Privateers, French, sweep the coast of Maine, 267. 
Proclamation of the General Court of Massachusetts, 146, 159. 
Proclamation issued at Boston, 299. 
Province of Maine, its condition, 105. 
Province of Nova Scotia conquered by the English, 133. 
Putnam, Major Perley, in command at Eastport, 420.. 

Quakers, Persecution of the, 138. 

Quebec, Fruitless attack upon, 222; Arnold repulsed in his attack upon, 383. 

Randolph, Edward, Bitter aspersions of, 209. 
Rangeley Lake, 464. 

Rasle, Sebastian, a French missionary at Norridgewock, 171; his journeys 
through the western wilderness, 172 ; British hatred of, 297 ; attempts to 
capture, 305; success of, in civilizing and Christianizing the Indians, 
310 ; violent daath of, monument erected to the memory of, 325. 

Razilla, Gen., military commandant of Acadia, 102. 

Readfield, Wesleyan Seminary at, 401. 

Record of Maine regiments, 492. 

Regiment, the Eleventh, Testimony of Gen. Neagle, to the heroism of the, 475 ; 
adventures of the Thirteenth, 476; labors and deaths in the Twenty- 
Fourth, 487 ; sufferings of the Thirty-First in the wilderness, 492. 

Regiments, Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth, 486. 

Religion, Endeavors to establish the institutions of, 90. 

Reprisals by the savages, 300. 

Retribution, Indian, 66. 

Revere, Paul, frustrated Gen. Gage's plans, 367. 

Rhode Island the winter abode of the Northmen, 16. 

Richards, Major, sent to enlist Mohawks against the eastern tribes, 202. 

Richardson, Lieut., marches into ambush, 204. 

Richmond Fort, Indian speeches at, 352. 

Right of search maintained, 419. 

Rines, Capt. Stover, his success and reverses, 432. 

Routes of travel, 447, 455. 

Royal, Port, Colony at, 32. 



554 



INDEX. 



Royall, William, purchase of, 210. 

Rut, John, Second English expedition commanded by, 28. 
Ryswick, Treaty of, concluded, 251. 

• 

Saco, The first General Court held at, 107. 
Sagadahock Colony, Inauguration of, 55. 
Sagadahock River, Beauty of the, 54 
Samoset, an Indian chief of renown, 87. 
Savages, Insolence of the, 129. 

Saxton, Gen., selects officers from Maine regiments for colored soldiers. 

Scandinavia, What constituted, 13. 

Scandinavian immigration, 436; commissioners upon, 437. 
Scarborough, Colony at, 105; revival of the settlement at, 211. 
Scenes of picturesque beauty on the coast of Maine, 37. 
Schools of Maine, 517-526. 

Scott, Gen., success of his pacific measures, 433. 
Screven, Rev. William, his trials and character, 211. 
Seat of government removed to Augusta, 429. 
Sebago Lake and its scenery, 458. 
Separation of Maine from Massachusetts decided, 425. 

Settlers on the coast of Maine, Character of, 89 ; fears entertained by the, 352. 

Settlements abandoned, 191. 
Sewall's description of Pemaquod, 92. 

Seymour, Rev. Richard, held the first religious service in Maine, 52. 

Sharpshooters, A company of, sent from Maine ; their record, 478. 

Shepley, Col. George F., of the Twelfth Maine, 475; his position at New 

Orleans, 476. 
Sherbrook, Gen., Order of, to Capt. Barrie, 422. 
Shirley Fort at Augusta, 354. 

Shurte, Mr. Abraham, endeavors to redress Indian wrongs, 181 ; Indians appeal 
to, 184. 

Skitwarroes, the captive Indian, returned, 49. 
Skowhegan, State quarries at, 503. 
Smith, Capt. John, his character and objects, 81. 
Southack, Capt. Cyprian, Timely arrival of, 263. 
Spanish fleet, The, capture an emigrant ship, 49. 

Speech of an Indian chief to Queen Anne, 281 ; of Lord Chatham, 369. 
Spurling, Lieut.-Col., Raid of, 491. 

Squando, a friendly Indian, Cruel treatment of his child, 175. 

Squando, Pretended revelation of, 1S6. 

Squantum, Career of, 40. 

Squidrayset, an Indian warrior, 9S. 

Stamp Act, Feeling in Falmouth respecting, 374. 

Standish, Capt. Miles, 103. 

State of Maine, Latitude and longitude of, 498. 

State Seal, Description of, 426. 

Stoddard, John, Commissioner to the Indians, 331. 

St. George, Inauguration of , 64; anarchy and distress at, 65. 

St. George, Conference at, 344. 



INDEX. 



555 



St. George Eiver, Fortress at, 294 ; attacked, 306. 

St. John, The successful attack upon, 249. 

Sharkey, William, historian of the Popham Expedition, 55. 

Strategy, Indian, 179. 

Subercase, a French commander, surrenders Port Royal, 278. 
Sufferings of the Eighth Maine, 472 ; of the Sixteenth Maine, 484. 
Sullivan, Mr., Testimony of, 12S. 
Summer resorts in Maine of great beauty, 449-467. 

Swedes, Welcome to the, 439; prosperity of, 444; numbers in Maine, 444. 
Swett, Capt. Benjamin, his character and conduct, 204; his death, 205. 

Terms of peace exacted of the Indians, 286. 
Thebet, Andre, Journal of, 29. 

Thirtieth Maine, Toils, sufferings, and losses of, 490. 
Thirty-Second Maine, Awful carnage of, 492. 

Thomas, William W., Sketch of, 436; his labors in Sweden, 38; tribute to, 445. 

Thomaston, Fort built near, 294; celebrity of, 386. 

Thompson, Col. Samuel, Reckless act of, 375. 

Thorfinn visits Yineland, 16; his fruitless search for Thorhall, 18. 

Thorhall, Explorations of, 18. 

Thorstein, his expedition to Yineland, 16. 

Thorwald, a Northman, visits Narragansett Bay, 14; death of, 15. 
Togus, Home for disabled soldiers at, 498. 
Topsham laid out, 289. 

Tour, de la, Charles, 111 ; his efforts to recover his dominions, 113. 
Tour, de la, Claude, attacks an English trading-post, 97. 
Toxus, Speech of, 342, 

Trading-houses established, 91, 332 ; rules for conducting, 338. 

Treachery of Boston merchants, 272. 

Twenty-Sixth Regiment ; its nine months of toil, 488. 

Utrecht, Peace of, 285. 

Yetch, Col. Samuel, Governor of Nova Scotia, 278. 
Yillany of Yerrazano, 25; his end, 27. 

Yineland, its climate and productions, 14; enthusiasm of Gudrida concerning, 

10 ; its supposed location, 19. 
Yines, Capt. Richard, Settlement of Saco begun by, 89 ; he assails Mr. Tucker, 

110. 

Yirginia, Council of, its powers, 47. 

Yisit of Pemaquod chiefs to Capt. Weymouth, 40. 

Yoyages of discovery by the Northmen, 14, 15, 17. 

Yoyages of discovery by Columbus, 21. 

Yoyages of discovery by John and Sebastian Cabot, 22. 

Yoyages of discovery by Gasper Cortereal, 24. 

Yoyages of discovery by Giovanni Yerrazano, 25. 

Yoyages of discovery by Estevan Gomez, 27. 

Yoyages of discovery by John Rut, 28. 

Yoyages of discovery by Bartholomew Gosnold, 30. 



556 



INDEX. 



Voyages of discovery by De Monts, 32. 
Voyages of discovery by George Weymoutb, 33. 

Wadsworth, General, Heroism of, 391, 394. 

Wainwright, John, Conversation of, with Indian chiefs, 331. 

Waldo patent, The, 94. 

Waldron, Major, Suspicions of, 200 ; death of, 219. 
Wampum, a currency medium, 91. 
Wannerton, his revenge upon D'Aulney, 115. 

War and its ravages, 83 ; between England and Holland, 162 ; second Indian, 
175; between France and England, its consequences, 220; duration and 
sufferings caused by the Indian, 251; third Indian, 260; its desolations, 
261, 262; cause of a new Indian, 345; fifth Indian, commenced, 348; of 
the Revolution, 369 ; of 1812, consequences of, to Maine, 418. 

Washington protected by Maine Twenty-Seventh, 489. 

Water-power of Maine, 505-515. 

Wells, General Court convened at, 121 ; attack on the garrison at, 233 ; exciting 

event at, 283, 284. 
Wells Beach, 451. 

Westbrook, Col. Thomas, Expedition of, 302. 

Weymouth, Capt., Suspicions of, 38; treachery of, 39; effects of the crimes of, 
56. 

Wheelwright, Rev. John, his character and persecutions, 142; letter of, 143. 
Whitefield, Rev. George, visits Maine, 343. 
Whittier, Poem of, on Norridgewock, 310, 457. 

William Henry, built at Pemaquid, 240 ; efforts to destroy, 241, 245 ; final loss 
of, 246. 

William and Mary, Charter of, 252. 
Williamson, Capt. Jonathan, Capture of, 349. 
Williamson, Hon. William D., Sketch of, 425. 
Winslow, Capt. Josiah, Attack upon, 307. 

Winter Harbor, Capt. Vines spends a winter at, 85 ; attack and defence of, 276. 
Winthrop, Gen. John, Unsuccessful efforts of, 223. 
Wiswall, Rev. Mr., Unpatriotic character of, 375. 
Wivarna, Letter of the sachem, 334. 

Tork, Awful carnage at, 235. 
Yorkshire, County of, 127. 



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